Canex
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Post by Canex on Dec 14, 2011 19:49:01 GMT -5
OVERVIEW
Although I'm calling this a codex review, the truth is that it's an editorial masquerading as a review. Below you will find my heavily biased opinions regarding the various codex choices and I will conclude by posting a sample list, hopefully illustrating how I think the Tau army works best.
HQ = ETHEREAL
Ethereals provide guidance and leadership for Tau society. I understand why they might feel inclined to observe an army in the field but I don't believe they should see the battlefield. In other words, it's great they're in the fluff but Ethereals don't need models or rules. They don't belong in the codex but unfortunately they're there. Not only should they be excluded from fluffy armies, their rules prevent them from being used competitively.
So, what do they do? What's not worth looking at is their statistics line. They can't actually do anything physically themselves. What they can do is bring a slightly more expensive honour guard of warriors with a slightly better ballistic skill. That's fine. It makes enough sense to shut me up. They also have an inspiring presence ability too which allows morale rerolls. Ok, that's fluffy and useful too. Unfortunately, they have one more special rule of relevance.
If the Ethereal dies, all Tau on the field are granted the preferred enemy rule but must make a morale check or fall back. First of all, any Tau with the preferred enemy rule are still not even remotely effective in combat, so that's a useless perk. Moreover, the army with the worst leadership in the entire game is forced to take an army-wide morale test or run away? That works out to about one in three Tau units, by the way. Even worse, Tau tend to hang near the back board edge and their best units are jetpack which means they probably won't even get the chance to reform.
Even if Ethereals were otherwise brilliant - which they're not - the chance that Tau could basically insta-lose the game due to one model dying makes Ethereals a ridiculous choice to include in an army. If you include one, you are failing at trying to win. It's as simple as that.
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Canex
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Post by Canex on Dec 14, 2011 19:49:21 GMT -5
HQ = CRISIS COMMANDER & BODYGUARD
You have to take at least one. Also, you'll want to take at least one. Crisis Commanders are good but only compared to what else is in the codex. They pale in comparison to the commanders of other armies, being overpriced and surprisingly incompetent. Oh well. There are two varieties but you'll want the junior variety: the Shas'El. There is really only reason for this: its ballistic skill matches the bodyguard's if they're equipped with targeting arrays, thus increasing markerlight support efficiency.
The commander and bodyguards have access to special experimental equipment in addition to the plethora of weapon and wargear options available to all crisis suits. However, unless you're running an army with a special concept driving it, you're going to want to put powerful weapons on these suits. As with all suits, missile pods are mandatory, but for these, plasma rifles as well. Targeting arrays for the bodyguards make the entire unit the same ballistic skill, and of course, hardwired multitrackers are mandatory as well. In addition, make these expensive suits more survivable by adding shield drones and a bonding knife. That's it. You have a unit of three suits that trashes light armour and monsters at range, and even more up close. It also melts away infantry in heavy armour, particularly when supported by even just a single markerlight hit. If you end up with some extra points to spend, give two of the suits hardwired target locks to increase your anti-transport efficiency, or blacksun filters on all three suits to gain a huge advantage in nightfighting.
Everything else is more wasteful than you can afford, sadly. Mind you, there are plenty of other viable loadouts based on the composition of the rest of the army but really, you can't really go wrong with the squad above. The only problem is that it's expensive. Fortunately, they're mobile enough that they can avoid a lot of trouble. Just take care to minimize their exposure to S8 ranged weapons as much as possible.
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Canex
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Post by Canex on Dec 14, 2011 19:49:41 GMT -5
ELITE = CRISIS SQUAD
For such a supposedly shooty army, these elites have a decidedly pathetic ballistic skill. That's why you'll want to equip them with the cheap multishot burst cannon and the ubiquitous missile pod. Five shots each is reasonable enough for the price and although not a decisive unit that can melt away entire enemy squads in one volley, they can prey on light armour with the missile pods and punish light infantry, particularly when they're caught out in the open. Running three of them with a couple of attached gun drones prices them about a hundred points less than the commander/bodyguard squad but they're still somewhat on the expensive side, especially compared to what they can do relative to the elites of other armies.
Keep them in cover as much as possible until the enemy's heavy hitting firepower is whittled down, then you can attempt to move them forward to contest objectives if necessary. Otherwise, dance them around as often as you can, using them to draw fire away from other units. Their mobility means that they can appear much more threatening than they actually are.
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Canex
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Post by Canex on Dec 14, 2011 19:50:00 GMT -5
ELITE = STEALTH SQUAD
Stealth suits are handy and versatile. They can be equipped with targetting arrays, fusion blasters, and even a markerlight, in addition to the variety of drones. They're even difficult to target, requiring a nightfighting roll to see them, and are equipped with jetpacks. Therefore, they can serve ably as skirmishers, an anti-armour deterrant, and support unit. Indeed, this unit would almost be considered mandatory in a Tau army if they weren't so bloody overpriced. As it is, they simply take up an elite slot where the points could be better spent on crisis suits.
Paradoxically, it should be noted that they are very powerful in very small points games due to their exceptional versatility.
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Post by trevor on Dec 14, 2011 21:19:02 GMT -5
couldent this cinda stuff go in the "LIBRARY OF KNOWLEDGE"? although it is somwhat of a waist of time as tau are getting a new book next.
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Post by BewareOfTom on Dec 14, 2011 21:30:46 GMT -5
I think you meant waste, and I heard tau was like 2nd or 3rd (maybe 4th) in line
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Post by Jack Shrapnel on Dec 14, 2011 23:05:44 GMT -5
Yes, when Jon has this completed, it's definitely going into the library of knowledge...
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Post by trevor on Dec 15, 2011 15:06:40 GMT -5
and i think you forgot to put a period at the end of your sentence there tom ;D
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Post by BewareOfTom on Dec 15, 2011 15:19:07 GMT -5
As did you my good sir.
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Post by Jack Shrapnel on Dec 15, 2011 16:29:16 GMT -5
try to stay on topic please... Jon is putting forth all this great knowledge after all....
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Canex
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Post by Canex on Dec 16, 2011 4:54:15 GMT -5
HEAVY = HAMMERHEAD MBT
Contrary to popular adherence, Hammerheads are not mandatory in a Tau army. Sure, they're an exceptional tank. They have strong armour, an outstanding primary weapon which is great at both anti-armour and anti-infantry, and with pretty cheap upgrades, can fire well on the move and typically benefit from obscurement. By the way, we're talking about the railgun variety. The ion cannon is the alternate primary weapon and is exceptional in its own right but it suffers from the singular problem that plagues the Hammerhead in any incarnation: a somewhat inflated cost.
Sure, it's arguably the best overall tank in the game but it accordingly doesn't excel at any particular task. The specialist tanks of other armies simply do their jobs better than the Hammerhead. The oft-heralded anti-infantry capability of the Hammerhead's railgun shouldn't be required in an army that can easily account for that concern elsewhere, and incomparably better anti-armour can be found with Broadsides and Crisis missile pods.
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Canex
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Post by Canex on Dec 16, 2011 4:54:37 GMT -5
HEAVY = SKYRAY GMT
Who wants to trade away the points for an entire Crisis squad for two mobile markerlights? Neither do I. Nothing more needs to be said but I suppose I have to address this waste of a unit choice somehow. Skyrays are terrible because they pale in comparison to most of the other heavy choices and they can't fire their missiles without markerlight hits.
On the other hand, they are resilient like all Tau vehicles with the proper upgrades and with another cheap upgrade, their markerlights hit regularly enough, although only having two limits their contribution. Anyway, they're ugly too, so please don't take them.
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Canex
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Post by Canex on Dec 16, 2011 4:55:43 GMT -5
HEAVY = BROADSIDE SQUAD
As we all know, Broadsides are by far and away the best anti-vehicle option Tau have available. Take a squad of three and add two shield drones to the leader. Yes, their morale is poor like all Tau but since they are tough to kill with their excellent armour save and wound allocation shenanigans. Their survivability should be sufficient to ensure they get some shots off during the game. Just be careful of S8+ large blasts. As far as loadout is concerned, they come with twin-linked railguns and smart missile systems. Don't switch the smart missiles out for plasma rifles, no matter how impressive they seem in theory. The smart missile systems help to address one of the Tau army's primary weaknesses: lack of total number of shots. Also, since they ignore a lot of cover save conditions, they will decimate horde infantry.
Your main choice is deciding whether to outfit the squad with targeting arrays or advanced stabilization systems, allowing them to fire on the move. This is likely to depend on what the rest of your army looks like and how it plays. Specifically, the decison probably depends on the number of markerlights you have in your list. The one upgrade I recommend regardless is equipping a hardwired target lock on the squad leader. Fire control is something Tau do very well and for a minimum investment, you double the number of targets your Broadsides can fire upon. Another noteworthy investment if you have equipped advanced stabilization systems might be a hardwired blacksun filter to give you a bonus anti-armour shot in dawn of war deployments.
Regardless, you can't go wrong with Broadsides. They are expensive but will make your entire army better not only by virtue of their effective firepower, but also because they are resilient enough to draw the attentions of enemy firepower away from your Crisis suits. It's this same line of thought that will enable you to use them as bait as well. After all, even if your enemy recognizes the obvious trap, they still can't afford to let them fire the entire game.
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Canex
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Post by Canex on Dec 16, 2011 5:26:44 GMT -5
HEAVY = SNIPER SQUAD
Some people believe strongly in bringing these to the fight but let's take a closer look. Basically, one squad brings a networked markerlight and three rail rifles, and one heavy slot allows you to take three independent squads. They're also difficult to target, requiring a nightfighting check to actually fire at them. Their rail rifles are admittedly excellent weapons and seem to have been specifically designed to kill marines. They easily wound them, ignore their armour, and have excellent range. Due to their strength, they can also target monsters and threaten light armour.
Unfortunately, they simply don't hit that often. Combined with their ridiculous points cost for only three shots, and the fact they too compete with broadsides for heavy slots, sniper squads simply aren't viable. The truth is they just don't fill any role that isn't already covered in the rest of the army. Also, interestingly, their weapons aren't actually sniper weapons either.
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Canex
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Post by Canex on Dec 16, 2011 7:07:16 GMT -5
FAST = PIRANHA FAV
Overpriced, minimal firepower, open-topped and flimsy... but they're great! No, they really are, actually, and there are quite a few reasons for this. For one, they are Tau's premiere skirmishing unit. Due to their impressively long front edge they block enemy units extremely well, forcing the enemy to either try to destroy them or circumvent them entirely, which may delay their rate of advance. When faced against enemy armour, their equipped fusion blasters require the enemy to deal with them immediately, especially when high value targets are at stake. This detracts from the amount of firepower directed towards crisis suits and broadsides. Even better, their slightly improved front armour value means that the enemy can't just throw S4 shots to shake it. Very often, they have to waste real firepower.
Additionally, the piranha carries a pair of gun drones which should immediately detach and serve as secondary skirmishers, creating a free second line of pathblockers. A lucky shot from them can even pin an enemy unit, further enhancing their ability to fulfill their role. Basically, the piranha and its drones are essential to the survival of the rest of the army. Not only does it complicate enemy fire control by attracting attention, it also slows down the enemy advance which is absolutely crucial to Tau survival. It's worth saying that to actually be a threat worth dealing with, however, the piranha's fusion blaster should be accompanied by a targeting array. Furthermore, to increase the vehicle's survival, it never hurts to add a standard disruption pod as well.
Lastly, it's worth mentioning that the piranha is a fast vehicle, capable of jetting forth late game and contesting lightly held objectives. Against some opponents, this might even become its primary task during the game. In any case, the piranha is an essential part of a capable Tau force.
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