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Offline Shadowlord

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Tau tactics
« on: July 12, 2002, 10:36:58 AM »
Can anyone post some Tau strategy for someone who would like to start with them? IO currently play DE. With Tau i'm thinking "mobile firepower". The hunter's thing.

Offline Archon Xanath

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2002, 06:48:11 PM »
I don't play Tau either, but I've gone up against them a few times and watched them play IG.

They definitely excel at laying down firepower.  Railguns, Pulse Rifles, even Kroot Rifles are excellent weapons, and you can get them for cheap.  Against most armies, (particularly DE and BA), hanging back and shooting anything that moves works great.

However, the weaknesses of Tau are in assault and mobility.  The Kroot, their so-called "hth specialists" regularly get chewed by anything even remotely approaching true assault troops.  Also, IG can lay down far more firepower than any Tau player could ever hope to.

They key to overcoming those is mobility.  Crisis Suits, Pathfinders, and Devilfish (Devilfishes?) are your friends.  The Pathfinders are particularly powerful as they're ALL armed with Pulse Carbines and Markerlights.

I envision a Tau army as having several dismounted squads of Fire Warriors and/or Kroot, with some Broadsides and/or Hammerheads providing fire support.  Against many armies and certain scenarios, a mobile reserve of Crisis Suits, Pathfinders, Gun Drones, and Fire Warriors in a Devilfish can be extremely powerful.

One last note, ALWAYS take as many Pulse Carbines as possible.  18" range on the move + pinning effect = goodness.

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Offline Mystic511

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2002, 10:07:20 PM »
I've studied the tau codex, because I wanted to start a tau army.  From what I've seen of their playing ability (which is very little by the way), I've come to a few conclusions.

Railguns.  Railguns railguns railguns.  Those things are damn powerful.

Pulse carbines would be right under that in terms of neccessities.  Anything that can keep a squad pinned, and therefore, unable to assault your tau troops is a great tool.

The kroot are mundane at best (someone please prove me wrong), and i decided that if and when i start a tau army, it won't have any kroot at all.  The very fact that you have to combine all the kroot into one unit and keep conherency takes away the versatility of the the different squads.

A good secondary option that I've discovered is the Chaptered Approved codex update:  Human Auxilaries.  I forget the stats exactly, but they are 6 points each, and their stats fall right between the kroot's WS and the Tau's BS.  Since they are so cheap, they would screen and keep enemies at bay just as well as kroot warriors would, but at the same time, free up a great deal of points so that you can beef up your tau troops.  If you haven't heard about this update yet, go to the GW website and find it (either in the chapter approved link or the tau link)!

I can't comment on much else, because like I said, I haven't had much play time with Tau (that should change though since my friend is starting a Tau army).

One thing I do want to keep in mind is pathfinders combined with smart missiles.  It seems like a very nice (cheezy) strategy for dealing damage.

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2002, 11:13:56 PM »
3 of my friends play Tau, and I have viewed some different strategies.  I think the way to go is Fire Warriors/Pathfinders in Devilfish.  Also, you need Crisis Suits.  Beware of Tyranids though, I played one today and wiped out ALL of his fire warriors in one turn!  To fight this you need Railguns with Sub-Munition.  You need Kroot to act as a screen.  As I keep on telling everyone, Kroot aren't SPECIALISTS.  They are the things that are bait, and set traps.  These are my opinions, and I don't know much :(

Offline MrMischief

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2002, 08:57:44 AM »
Ok i need another Devilfish i think, cuz i dont win as much as i like to.

I just got a hammerhead and my third broadside for my birthday and havent had a chance to use them yet....

Currently i have

HQ 1 ethereal
Elites 3 crisis suits and 5 stealth suits
Troops 24 Firewarriors and 24 kroots
Fast Attack 8 Pathfinders w/devilfish and 8 drones
Heavy Support 2 Krootox, 1 Hammerhead, 3 Broadsides

if i was to buy somthing more, it would be a Devilfish and a Crisis Suit Commander.

The Kroot act as a screen for my firewarriors and they always get chewed up. I take great advantage of the rule saying that Kroot get +1 cover save in jungles. suddenly they have a 4+ save and are like more firewarriors.

mobile Suits work together and do the leapfrog thing where they jump over a rock, shoot the enemy, and jump back behind the rock, very fun to see the opponent get mad when u do this

i LIKE my krootox, they are very good in close combat, and thats mainly what i use them for.

Broadsides and Hammerhead take care of tanks and the Hammerhead is good for knocking out Tyranids.
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Offline Shadowlord

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2002, 10:17:03 AM »
Did you see the Tau units on forge world? Go to the website, they're amazing!! I like the Air cast tau: very thin and long cool looking... creatures. The different versions of drones are cool too.

My question:
1/ Are there any rules for these units, and where? Can you use them or are they only shelf decorations?

2/ Did anyone think of drones with sharp blades/edges that are decent in assault? The thing is that I don't like kroot and would like to have something other in assault.

Offline Etherrider

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #6 on: July 15, 2002, 12:25:32 AM »
Mentioning that the Tau drones could be expanded to have HTH bladed drones is a great idea.  Forgeworld has also taken the other logical step with HVY drones armed with burst cannons and such.  I think both of those could be useful.

I am still working on my Tau army, I won't play with them until they are completely finished, but my Kroot have surfaced as mercs.  They worked fairly well also.  They jumped on some Orks that wondered too close and did fairly well.  They just have to be used adequately.  I have seen the Tau played and they do ahave a lot of possibilities that I plan on exploiting soon!
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Offline DeadSeraphim

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2002, 04:08:17 PM »
The kroot are mundane at best (someone please prove me wrong), and i decided that if and when i start a tau army, it won't have any kroot at all.  The very fact that you have to combine all the kroot into one unit and keep conherency takes away the versatility of the the different squads.

You can also look at that as adding cheap-as-dirt 7 point flesh shields to your Krootox, who would otherwise be picked out individually.

The truth is, as far as I can tell, Kroot are there to counterassault if the enemy gets too close.  That's it.  All they're good for.  However, at that particular role, they're awesome.  Follow me here for a minute...

In a counter-assault troop, all you care about is keeping the assault OFF of your Firewarriors.  Beyond that, you want the counter-assault to be cheaper than the firewarriors (as cheap as possible really).  If they can actually kill anything in HtH then all the better, but it's not neccisary at all.  Also, it's an added bonus if they can soak up fire and/or kill things occasionally with guns.

The Kroot meet all the above criteria.  They're Cheap-As-Dirtâ„¢.  It's MUCH better to loose a 7-point Kroot than a 10-point Firewarrior.  Advance the kroot up just in front of your Firewarriors and they have to be dealt with before an assault can reach the real meat-and-potatoes of your army.  Shooting attacks also must engage the Kroot screen, meaning you're loosing fewer points every time one dies than if a Firewarrior had been hit.

And when the Assault comes, you only need one of them alive.  That's enough to force a sweeping advance where you get yet another turn of free shooting before your Firewarriors are actually engaged.

If you actually have more alive when the Assault reaches you, then goodie.  The Kroot, while lackluster in performance, are still anough to get a couple of casualties (which is a couple more that your Firewarriors don't have to kill on the sweep).  And hey, occasionally things die to their shooting as well.

Trust me, if I can find a use for an Eldar Guardian, I can find a use for anything  ;)

But still that works best in a static fireline/layered defense, and I've personally spent a little too much time playing Eldar to ever sit completly still.

Update:  Oh yeah, and more info on the Kroot (although not relating to the Tau army, still a great read) is at http://www.eldaronline.com/community/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=11303
« Last Edit: July 16, 2002, 04:10:56 PM by DeadSeraphim »

Offline Tau Master

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2002, 10:58:32 PM »
talking again about the air cast models and the new drones, where can i find rules about them.
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Offline Tobab816

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2002, 01:07:24 AM »
Personally I tend to say this.

Look at Kroot as beefed up Guardsmen. Because compared to guardsmen(and for only 1 point more) they are frikkin awesome.

For just 1 point extra you get special rules equivalent to those of a Catachan, beefed up WS, S and weapon.
The only thing that is worse is their armor...and which weapon doesn't have AP5...not alot I tell you.
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+++Excerpt from Last Chaos/Space marine game, commentator: Inquisitor Khalheed "The Purgator" Qhor, Ex-Deathball player+++

Chaos vs Space Marine grudgematch today ended 23-19 when Brother Grazieel decimated the chaos team with a heavy bolter.

Afterwards the Chaos Coach Zhuriel the Damned stated "If we weren't ideologically in favor of cheating we'd complain about this""
+++End of transmission+++

Offline Commander Ikari

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2002, 05:19:07 PM »
Quote
talking again about the air cast models and the new drones, where can i find rules about them.  


Possibly in a citadell journal issue.
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Offline Shadowlord

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #11 on: July 20, 2002, 10:45:16 AM »
Like I said, on GW Forge World. Here's the link:
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/acatalog/QUATERMASTERS_STORE_TAU_15.html

Enjoy it and tell me what you think. I don't even play Tau but I like the models a lot. In fact, the new tau get more feedback & new units than DE did in 3+ years.
Also, I'd like to see drones specialized in assault!

Are there any rules to use with these models? Where?

Offline Shadowlord

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #12 on: July 21, 2002, 09:24:56 AM »
anyone?

Offline Mystic511

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #13 on: July 22, 2002, 04:21:30 AM »
The new white dward (271 in the US) has Chapter Approved rules on a new Tau vehicle.

Offline Shadowlord

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #14 on: July 22, 2002, 04:58:59 AM »
Which vehicle? The baracuda? What are the rules?

Offline Tobab816

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #15 on: July 24, 2002, 11:56:32 PM »
100 points more!!! That is like....the same cost as a LandRaider.

Oh no...that thing would have way to much firepower for the amount of armor it carries.

To carry that amount of firepower it would have to be a superheavy.

Besides. On BS4 you really don't need a twinlink.
Deathball, the new game of bloody basketball, 40k style!

+++Excerpt from Last Chaos/Space marine game, commentator: Inquisitor Khalheed "The Purgator" Qhor, Ex-Deathball player+++

Chaos vs Space Marine grudgematch today ended 23-19 when Brother Grazieel decimated the chaos team with a heavy bolter.

Afterwards the Chaos Coach Zhuriel the Damned stated "If we weren't ideologically in favor of cheating we'd complain about this""
+++End of transmission+++

Master Archon

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #16 on: July 24, 2002, 11:41:46 PM »
No it's a conversion called the Swordfish.  It is 260 Points.  And is armed with 1 Twin-linked Railgun w/ Submunition, 1 Twin-linked Missile Pod, and 1 Burst Cannon.  Front Armour: 13, Side: 12, Rear: 10 BS: 4.  Overall it looks pretty cool but I wouldn't really spend the money or the time to make it.  Too many points for basically a beefed up Hammerhead (About 100 points more for a Twin-link on the Railgun, a Missile Pod instead of a Smart Missile System, and a Burst Cannon).  

Master Archon

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #17 on: July 25, 2002, 09:07:06 AM »
The tank looks like if the twin-linked Railgun is fired it will flip over due to the heavy recoil.  Yea I agree that it is a waste of points.  To easy to take out for the same points cost of a Land Raider

Offline DeadSeraphim

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #18 on: July 25, 2002, 11:18:13 AM »
Well the nice thing about Railguns is that they're recoilless.  At leas the ones the US Millitary has are.

Offline Tobab816

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Re:Tau tactics
« Reply #19 on: July 25, 2002, 10:51:37 PM »
Railguns arn't recoilless. Railguns generate LESS recoil as it's a bigger difference between the weight of the gun and the projectile as the projectile is fired at higher speeds. But it's hardly recoilless. Perhaps it has more effective recoildampening systems but it's hardly recoilless.

laws of physics you know.

The only recoilless weapons are rocketweapons and laserweapons as the rocket puts it's pressure on the air behind you instead of on you and the laserweapon as it's HEAT and not kinetic energy that is being transfered.
Deathball, the new game of bloody basketball, 40k style!

+++Excerpt from Last Chaos/Space marine game, commentator: Inquisitor Khalheed "The Purgator" Qhor, Ex-Deathball player+++

Chaos vs Space Marine grudgematch today ended 23-19 when Brother Grazieel decimated the chaos team with a heavy bolter.

Afterwards the Chaos Coach Zhuriel the Damned stated "If we weren't ideologically in favor of cheating we'd complain about this""
+++End of transmission+++

 


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