6th Ed Tau, Patterns in Motion

[Panxer]

I've been playing a couple of 6th ed games and I'm noticing some patterns already. Gonna see if I can't illustrate and work through them with a little help from you guys...

1. Despite the allies rules, Tau still are pathetic in hand to hand. Sure, you can battle brother up with some Space Marines or Eldar, but for the points why not just double up on some kroot or put in more broadsides? The best we can do is I5 kroot hounds with no armor save and can't assault on the turn it outflanks...so I'm still looking to patch some holes for CC

2. [personal]: 6th edition may be new, but my old and bad dice rolls remain ever constant. No matter the tactic, if you can't beat bad dice rolls, you've already lost and might as well pack up and go home to write an angry post on BOLS.

3. Space marine allies might be nice, but they're expensive, and pretty squishy for what they can do without transports. I'm looking for a way around this without buying drop pods. I was thinking assault marines, but for 250pts for x10 marines I can field another unit of broadsides and light up the night...

4. The beatings will continue until morale improves: Despite all the shooting buffs Tau has now, morale still is in the toilet. Killing your ethereal might be a good idea (if not risky), but when the best morale you can get from non-special characters is 8 for a non-leadership unit, you're not so hot on the etherealcide 'preferred enemy' gambit I've seen so much conjecture over.

5. Stealth suits have stealth! YAY! Wait...they're still expensive, have no major ranged armament, are elites, and really for the points, I'll exchange a 6 wound, plasma and missile pods unit of 3 xv8's any day of the week. They may not have the 2+ save in ruins, but at least for 1/2 the points, I've got double the anti vehicle/troops capacity

6. Tetras are awesome. Amazing. Completely negates the need for pathfinders (even with rail rifles)

7. I see potential in Remora Drone Fighters, but I honestly have no first hand experience with them so I'm curious if anyone out there's used them thus far and what their results are.

This list is by no means comprehensive and should be looked at as simple observation. Given my own doomy and negative disposition from experience and consistently poor dice rolls (despite multiple replacements), I am by NO MEANS complaining. The Tau are AMAZING compared to how they were in 5th.

I'm curious to see if anyone else is noticing patterns in their armies and am eager to read about them.

[Shadoq]

I like the idea of those Tetras(just checked out their rules).
I'm just concerned with their survivability (AV 10, open topped) and are they a 40k approved stamped unit?

[SonicPara]

Tetras are 40k approved and are probably the only thing that is keeping the Tau from being one of the worst armies despite their recent buffs. With the changes to the game with 6th Markerlights become more efficient and therefore more devastating. Stealth Suits no longer being a 100% reliable platform for markerlights (marker drones combined with "can't be seen out of 36 inches" rule made them great with JSJ) and pathfinders being as overpriced as ever make Tetras not just the best option for markerlights but the only cost-effective one.

[jifel]

Tetras are Forge World, which most opponents would probably let you use in a friendly game. At a tournament though, you'd need the TOs permission.

Sadly, a few players would not let you use Forge World, but again most should. I personally hope that FW becomes allowed for Tournaments, even though Nids really have no options except Gargantuans.

[Chumbalaya]

Look to Deathrains (TL missile pod, flamer) as a strong contender for the best Crisis loadout. They can strip HP, threaten flyers, and can use the flamer to clear mobs or use overwatch effectively. Fireknives are still effective, but they aren't nearly as auto-include (lack of TL really hurts when flyers show up).

SM give you TH/SS Terminators, easily the best assault unit around for the points. They also have their own anti-flyer and strong scoring units.

Tau are fine in 6th, but they'll still playing with only half a Codex (Crisis, FW, Kroot, Piranhas, Broadsides, Hammerheads).

[Panxer]

Two words... Aegis Fortification. What I'm being told via a buddy who's been studying battle reports is that the Aegis fortification is what is making Tau SUPER resilient. Apparently for a 100pts you can give the fort a heavy 4 TL S7 Interceptor/Skyfire AA cannon.

The fort gives a 4+ cover save and is treated like a barricade and not a building or bunker so it can't be obliterated or wiped off of the map.

This for fire warriors and broadsides this is HUGE for survivability.

Gonna give it a shot.

[Tynskel]

one word: Barracuda.

It will frak up every flyer out there.

[evilamericorp]

I love my stealth suits now that they've been FAQ'd to actually be stealthy. Stealth and shrouding is a huge improvement over the old night fight rules, especially because of the short range of their guns. In my army I run 3 maxed out units of suits with gun drones. 300 points a unit is a hefty investment, but for how mobile they are and their new survivability in cover, I think it's definitely worth it. Deep Striking in and getting 30 strength 5 shots with BS buffed by markerlights from my firewarriors will wipe units off the map. And if it doesn't, I can jump away 2D6".

The unit has a large enough threat range to cover a good portion of the board at any given time, and the jet pack thrust move is usually enough to get them well away from any assaulters they can't handle. Having three units lets me combine firepower to utterly annihilate squads. In addition to these units, the list I'm running has:

Cheap suit HQ with fusion/missiles to hunt armor
4x8 man units of firewarriors to sit on objectives and markerlight whatever I want to die
IG allies-
Primaris psyker for the magical funtimes
vendetta to deal with enemy fliers/armor
platoon with a lascannon command squad
4 infantry units with power axe sergeants, a commissar, and plasma guns
-1 squad will go in the vendetta to take far objectives, the others will make a counterassault blob to walk up the middle and intercept enemy heavy hitters


The army is a little light on antitank weaponry, but with the 6th meta shifting away from transports, I shouldn't have too many problems.

[Anggul]

Look to Deathrains (TL missile pod, flamer) as a strong contender for the best Crisis loadout. They can strip HP, threaten flyers, and can use the flamer to clear mobs or use overwatch effectively.

This. Deathrains are pure gold. I run them in pairs, making one of them a Team Leader with a Gun Drone or two to take a Missile/Lascannon for the team, and a Blacksun Filter for obvious reasons. This comes to 118/128pts of loveliness and death.

[Panxer]

I just built my first remora from a skyray turret but I have a question with regard to flying bases....On the forgeworld site the remoras are on skimmer bases and not on 'flying bases', I'm wondering if anyone who's fielding them uses the standard flying base or not.

Otherwise, I'm drooling over the defensive capabilities for the Aegis defensive line. It completely negates the need for shield generators or shield drones for broadsides (granted, ord barrage and flamer templates can defeat its protection) but there's very few weapons that do this or have a low enough AP to negate a 2+ save. IMO: TOTALLY WORTH IT. 100pts and you've got AA capabilities and a 4+ cover save from almost every direct fire weapon in the game.