Tau - Ending

Well, I just wanted to write some random thoughts about Tau. Some of this is tactics, list building, and hopes for what I think the list needs in the future. Sadly, by the time the codex is re-released I will probably have been out of practice so long, I will barely remember how to run them. On the other hand, each time a codex is re-released, I think you need to re-lean anyway.

At the moment, the largest problems with the Tau seems to stem from a lack of good units, lack of diffuse firepower, and lack of decent scoring units. My intention with these comments is to crease some type of Ubertau list that is all dominating, but to make a book that does what I think the marine list did. i.e. make list building hard. I don't want to open the army, and quickly figure out what are the best options, I want to see a myriad of choices that almost confound me, making a calvalcade of options.

Let's take the Stealth suits vs. Crisis suit at the moment to illustrate the problem.

I like stealth suits, I really do, the problem is not that the stealth suit has bad rules, it does not. The problem isn't even that the crisis suit is too good, it is not. The problem is that you don't have a choice in the codex about taking crisis suits if you want to be competitive. The reason for this is the missile pod. It is the only way in the codex to bring any real amount of mid strength anti-vehicle in the list. The tau have NO strength 9 in the entire codex, and str 8 is limited to Fusion (*cough* melta) guns. So between Strength 10 (which is confined to heavy support options) and Str 7 (which is confined to elite options) you have to maximize those selections with any hope of destroy enough vehicles that are on the table.

Many of the other armies have diffuse firepower. I mean by this that they can take similar guns in a variety of different locations. You want melta in a marine army? Tell me what selection (HQ, FAST, TROOP, ELITE, HEAVY) you can't pick some of this up in. I understand that for many of the olde codexes this is due to their age. However, absent this ability most competitive tau lists end up looking very very similiar. 1xcrisis suit commander, 3x Missle/Plasma, 2xKroot, 1x Firewarrior, 1xpathfinder, Then add broadsides and hammerheads as you feel like it.

In addition, not only is the army fairly limited about it's choices, it's play style is also extremely limited at the moment. The game has gone from as 12 inch deployment on both sides, with limited infiltrate/deepstrike to asymetrical warfare with all armies having some type of fast scout, 1st turn assault, shooting, Behind Enemey Lines, Heroic Intervention etc... so the game has become faster, and different directions of attack have become standard. I love these changes as a 40K player, but as a Tau player it makes me want to wet myself. I feel like Band Geek that was just told that the football players were going to play through my marching segment.

This has forced tau into using kroot as these buffer squads of bubble wrap to enwrap squads and throwing units in front of fast assaulters with purahna's to slow things down. It's effective, that's true. I don't think I've lost a 1500+ game in 5th edition yet. So you end up boxing your tau together, bubblewrapping them in kroot and firing on people. In the old game I could do quite a bit of menuvering, but tau are so poor in hth that that simply is not a viable tactic. Everyone else using more of the table is great, but it has meant less use of it by Tau.

Lastly, their troop selections are not very good for holding objectives. In the old system when any unit could do it, it didn't matter. Tau actually have almost no leadership tricks (ethereals are broken units atm with the way target designation works) means that it is very easy to break firewarriors and kroot off the table.

What I Hope To See In The New Codex:

I believe the Tau Codex is somewhere between 12-24 months away at this point. By that time, Necrons and Dark Eldar should be done, and Tau (along with Black Templars) will be one of the oldest codexes (if not the oldest). Therefore I think we can expect to see them in that time frame. I'm going to guess summer/fall of 2011.

Unit Changes:
Battlesuit Commanders - Drop 1+. Include more special issue weapons that are useful.
- Make the Command and Control Node work for all leadership tests.
Ethereal - Give him a special rule that either makes him almost impossible to target or make it so that if he dies, it may be good for you. Fury, not your units breaking off the table.

Crisis suits - They are fine. A points break would be nice as JSJ got nerfed in the new system. More weapons that we can load on it. Note, not more Hard Points, just more gun options.

Stealth - See Crisis suits. Make a weapon sprue for tau that will have a ton of weapons on it.

Firewarriors - Let them be able to purchase modified shield drones. Gives the unit a 5+ cover save, or +1 if they go to ground.

Kroot - they are fine as they are, but fix Kroot Ox, they have been crap since they were made. Make their gun str 7 assault 2.

Gun Drones - They are fine, but they shouldn't count as kill points on vehicles, nor should they be scoring. In fact, I would be fine if they could not score, nor were they kill points.

Tau Vehicles - Str 5 should be considered defensive weapons for tau. Thus move 12, fire all guns(with multitracker). Vehicle upgrades probably need some rebalancing. Also make it so that the pods on the sides can be upgraded to a myriad of tau weapons, missile pods to plasma rifles, whatever. Give it the razorback treatment.

Vespid - Need a lot of work. They are garbage right now. Give them jet backs, or assault 2 guns, or hit and run... something.

Pirhana - Nice idea, now give it some choices. Give it a tx upgrade like forgeworld. Let us upgrade the drones at the ends to different weapons (plasma/missile/fusion/railrifle). Make it a gunship.

Pathfinders - Solid choice, change if you want, but they work ok now.

Hammerhead - Points break like most vehicles have gotten. More weapon options.
Broadside - Ok, but need more weapons. Ion Cannons mounted on the shoulder. I think tau need more weapon choices between 10 and 7 for long range fire support. How about a str 8 ap 4, heavy 4? Or a tr 9, ap 2 heavy 2. Or a str 6 ap 5, heavy 6.

Stop putting str 5 ap 5 guns in the list, we know that there are burst cannons, no need to choke us with them. There is almost no choice in the entire list that doesn't have the option to take a burst cannon/pulse rifle/pulse carbine... we get it. Invent some new guns.

The rail rifle isn't the answer. Tau need some str 8-9 weapons that have high rate of fire and the ability to put the good guns they do have on choices that aren't broadsides/crisis/hammerhead.

My 2 cents.