Tau Tactica - 6th Edition!

[Rogerio]

Well no one else has stepped up to the plate so i guess it should be me!

What does 6th Edition have in store for the Tau?

A few of my own thoughts...

Firewarriors are a bit more viable as foot infantry with being able to move 6 inches and still fire 30"

Devilfish are totlally pointless, 12o poits for a Warfish and after a couple of glances its gone? No thanks.

Suits with Plasma become much better at anti tank with +1

Broadsides and Hammerheads +2 to damage now....excellent news.

[Danasdfgh]

IMO fire warriors really needed a boost, with the new mobile rapid fire (and 15'' 2 shots? ..havent finished reading my book yet) im not so sure they need a devilfish like they used to, provided they can find some cover.

Beyond having a crack at taking a proper fire warrior squad again Broadsides look as deadly as ever. With the new ally rules I also wouldnt be surprised to see them pop up in space marine and eldar armies inparticular.

[vitch]

I normally run one squad of three Broadsides. It's the only Heavy Support slot I use at 1500 points.

Now with the demise of Target Lock I may run 3 X 1 Man units to enable a spread of firing. Downside is giving up more VP's though.

[Dezartfox]

Our vehicles gained a boost I think, They can now move 12" and fire all their guns (or all but one on a HH), they don't need to pay for the Disruption pods, as they get the Jink rule, and we've still got pretty good armour!

[myrdinn]

Well done that man

- Blacksun filters looking a whole heap more useful with the increased use of night-fighting (anyone else think it's really quite unrealistic to have that much fighting in the dark though?)
- Firewarriors definitely boosted
- Disruption pods seem to have been slightly nerfed

I have my first game tonight under the new rules so will report back a bit later on or tomorrow

[Steinhardt]

provided they can find some cover.

50pts for Aegis Defence Line anyone?

I have always felt, and still feel, that Stealth suits are a little too expensive... But when standing in trees they now have a 2+ cover save. Ridiculousness.

Also, the commander and his bodyguard are all Characters and therefore may Precision their attacks onto target models on a 6 to hit.

[MuNsTeNbRaU]

how do crisis suits move about now? the clasic fireknife should be good at taking out tanks and better because of the changes to assault and charging out of tanks.

[myrdinn]

how do crisis suits move about now?

my understanding is that it's a normal jetpack move in the movement phase and then a random 2d6" move in the assault phase? (please correct me if I'm wrong on that). Sounds annoyingly random, but we'll see how it plays.

[Rogerio]

my understanding is that it's a normal jetpack move in the movement phase and then a random 2d6" move in the assault phase? (please correct me if I'm wrong on that). Sounds annoyingly random, but we'll see how it plays.

I think that there will be times that the random 2D6 will be brilliant for us but there will often be times as well where we manage to roll tiny distances for the assault move and be stuck there, especially now with the enemy being able to charge 2D6!

A quick question for people out there about markerlights and snap fire.

Lets say i have 2 Crisis suits about to be assaulted by a squad of orks and i get them with 3 markerlight tokens. I dont use them all up during the shooting phase. I am then Charged by the Orks....Can i use my Markerlights to improve my Snap fire as they charge in??

[Ronin no Matsu]

Also, the commander and his bodyguard are all Characters and therefore may Precision their attacks onto target models on a 6 to hit.

Only the commander is a character, his bodyguards aren't, sorry.

A quick question for people out there about markerlights and snap fire.

Lets say i have 2 Crisis suits about to be assaulted by a squad of orks and i get them with 3 markerlight tokens. I dont use them all up during the shooting phase. I am then Charged by the Orks....Can i use my Markerlights to improve my Snap fire as they charge in??

I wouldn't think it's viable since we gotta take out our tokens at the end of our turn.

[myrdinn]

I dont use them all up during the shooting phase. I am then Charged by the Orks....Can i use my Markerlights to improve my Snap fire as they charge in??

Just checked the codex - the rule states "the counters remain until the end of the current Tau shooting phase or until they are used". So they've expired by the time your opponent's assault phase comes round.

[2nd place]

firewarriors are awsome now, played a1,500pt game with my tau today and when it got to end of turn 5 I have 6VP and he had 2... I play ultra-mobile tau and the new move, shoot rules are great, my warriors now have a threat range of 36" markerlights just became hyper useful to, in 1,500pts I have 29 of them... my hevies are 2 broadsides with plasmas and 2 skyrays with SMS, on turn 1 I am letting 12 missile off the rails and flattening any piece of cover you think your standing in, giving my firewarriors and crisis suites a clear run at you, as I can out range all other infantry I wont have a problem, exept against guard, maybe due to superior numbers

[JohnDaBarr]

Disruption pods seem to have been slightly nerfed

Really can't agree on this...... Disruption pods are not slightly nerfed they are now completely and utterly a useless peace of equipment, because they give you something you get for free!

All in all I like the new rules except the Target Lock is gone (and this puzzles me greatly) and now the Shield Drones suck at their job!

[2nd place]

ok just pulled out mt codex... I will run through a few things I have used in 6th and let you know what I think of them...

ethereal, this guy is from now on going to be in my 2,000pts armies, ok when he dies your units have a medium chance of running of the table, however if they pass the test they get TL weapons

the shas'o is not really needed, the shas'el does the same job for less points, ok he has less wounds ect but i see all suit units now becomming anti-vehicle/terminator units, and deep striking in

as i said in my earlier post, firewarriors just got scary, though the carbines are redundent now... emp grenades are great, just dont forget the bonding knife
devilfish with SMS are a little nurfed however they can act as mobile cover for your warriors behind or block LoS totally, this can keep your troops alive

pathfinders are crazy good now, not only do they get a fish with all the benefits above but also allow deep strike re-roll, great for your tank killers

sniper drones, while not being "snipers" are still perchaseable as a unit of 9 and vs power armour these guys can be a game changer, your enemy is not going to sit is a building getting shot at by these, if he does, knock the building down round his ears and then shoot

broadsides and awsome building/fortiforcation problems, TL S10 will take any building down, and then you can have fun with the occupants

skyray, I love these guys now... with enough markerlights and 2 of these bad boyes you can level the entire board of cover and leave your enemy vunrable, while you hide behind your fish...

the hammerhead, and rightfully alot of people still swear by it but I tend to find that this bad boy gets alot of attention, and with cover now only being 5+ we have problems, even if we are AV13 on the front face...

[Ronin no Matsu]

ethereal, this guy is from now on going to be in my 2,000pts armies, ok when he dies your units have a medium chance of running of the table, however if they pass the test they get TL weapons

No, prefered enemy make you reroll 1s.

as i said in my earlier post, firewarriors just got scary, though the carbines are redundent now... emp grenades are great, just dont forget the bonding knife

Don't forget photon grenades as they give you stealth if the people shooting you are within 8".

pathfinders are crazy good now, not only do they get a fish with all the benefits above but also allow deep strike re-roll, great for your tank killers

I don't see how the are different from 5th ed.

the hammerhead, and rightfully alot of people still swear by it but I tend to find that this bad boy gets alot of attention, and with cover now only being 5+ we have problems, even if we are AV13 on the front face...

I too think they got too much attention during some time.

[taudau]

skyray, I love these guys now... with enough markerlights and 2 of these bad boyes you can level the entire board of cover and leave your enemy vunrable, while you hide behind your fish...

Could you please point me at the brb page that allows us to blow up non-'intact building' type terrain?

[2nd place]

I was refering to cover with an AV... if there is little to be had it makes life easier for your firewarriors and sniper drones

[Rogerio]

Im really not seeing how alot of this stuff is valid guys, to me there arent a massive amount of changes for us with the rule book and FAQ.

Sure Firewarriors are now alot better as they can move and fire.

Railguns are even better.

Skyray is now viable for anti-tank as you only need glancing hits to knock out tanks, also im almost certain it will receive Skyfire when the codex comes out. Im suprised that the FAQ didnt include it actually as that would have made alot of sense. It is an Anti-Aircraft platform first and foremost so surely it should have Skyfire??

Our jump moves being altered is also significant but appart from that there isnt a whole lot of difference IMHO!

We are definiately going to struggle with shooting down enemy flyers for the time being however. Do markerlights work normally against flyers??

[MiyamatoMusashi]

Skyray is now viable for anti-tank as you only need glancing hits to knock out tanks

But at 3 Hull Points per tank, that's at most two tanks in the entire game (if every shot glances; of course some might penetrate, but some will fail to do anything). Seeker missiles being One Shot cripples the Sky Ray, and always will until that changes.

If you want anti-tank, Railguns are still king - compared to Sky Rays at least.

im almost certain it will receive Skyfire when the codex comes out. Im suprised that the FAQ didnt include it actually as that would have made alot of sense. It is an Anti-Aircraft platform first and foremost so surely it should have Skyfire??

Yes, it should. But it's not Imperial. The IG Hydra gets Skyfire... the Tau Sky Ray doesn't. Go figure.

We are definiately going to struggle with shooting down enemy flyers for the time being however. Do markerlights work normally against flyers??

No. Firing at flyers is a Snap Shot that is always resolved at BS1 - this cannot be improved by Markerlights.

The only exception is that Seeker Missiles still use BS5, which is specifically stated (in the FAQ) as overruling BS1. The trick, of course, is that you need a Markerlight hit at BS1 before you can fire the Seeker Missile at BS5... so as usual, Seeker Missiles are still actually less good than a Missile Launcher firing Krak, even before you remember that they are One Shot.

[diggerydoom]

Really can't agree on this...... Disruption pods are not slightly nerfed they are now completely and utterly a useless peace of equipment, because they give you something you get for free!

All in all I like the new rules except the Target Lock is gone (and this puzzles me greatly) and now the Shield Drones suck at their job!

Target Lock still usable for vehicles and infantry. Why do Shield Drones suck? If they are in front of the person they are protecting they are not bad.

Also, are bonding knives still worth it? As a unit can rally as long as it is above 25% rather than 50%, and even then a double one will pass, they do not seem to be required?

Edit: Also, snap firing, firing at flyers etc. how does it interact with targetting arrays? By my understanding they add +1 to BS, so can they fire at BS2 at flyers?