# Tau Tactics



## Plarz (Jan 25, 2007)

So, I recently got slaughtered twice against SM as Tau. Surprisingly, my Tau units had the worst shooting as well as the worst Close Combat. First round i was against a team of 8 Assault marines.

The 8 marines took out two full Fire Warrior Teams, a pair of Crisis Suits and a squadron of 6 Gun Drones.

Round two was a Dev squad w/ 4 Heavy Bolters and a pair of 6 man squads, each w/ a heavy Bolter.

Can someone please tell me how the Tau, a 'shooty' army was annihilated by these? Out ranged, out shot, utterly decimated.

**Edited for spelling errors


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

It could entirely be because of your armylist makeup. Tau are extemely effective when used correctly but I have also seen a ton of people take the dumbest combinations of wargear/etc and then use their units competely at odds with how they should be used.

Mind you, the heavy bolter is the Tau's bane. A dev squad with 4 of them is an evil thing. I will say that a little more info is required in order to answer your question properly.


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## jigplums (Dec 15, 2006)

Agreed. Tau are amounst the best shooting armies in the game however it doesn't mean they can be out shot by other armies. It all comes down to target priority, having the right tools for the job, tactical play and effective use of cover. Plus a bit of luck can help swing things in your favour too.


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## Fallen Angel (Dec 22, 2006)

Tau aren't designed to win long range firefights by attrition. You need to isolate part of the enemy and hit it hard. This usually means using all the rules you have available to you to full effect, such as kroot sitting >6" in woods, torrent of fire, hot dropping FWs behind a devilfish at 12" so they can't be assaulted etc.

Line tau can work in situations but manevourable tau works so much better in nearly every situation.


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## Jezlad (Oct 14, 2006)

> hot dropping FWs behind a devilfish at 12" so they can't be assaulted etc.


This sounds familiar


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## Fallen Angel (Dec 22, 2006)

Jezlad said:


> > hot dropping FWs behind a devilfish at 12" so they can't be assaulted etc.
> 
> 
> This sounds familiar


Hehe, what can i say, everything i tried against you worked perfectly. Of course karma is a bitch and repayed me against Jigplums where i tried to do something crazy and different and promptly got slapped - should have played boring and just sniped him all game.


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Hey, the Fish of Fury generates a huge amount of derision from non-Tau players but the fact of the matter is that when it is done properly, it is a damn effective tactic. I would never base my entire strategy on it either but if you NEED to wipe out a unit that is approaching too closely, chances are the FoF will do it. Especially if said target has been lit by a couple of marker lights. 62 Str5 attacks from 2 squads with Warfish, all hitting on 2's and wounding MEQ's on 3's is very much a unit destroying thing.


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## uberschveinen (Dec 29, 2006)

Alternatively, there's the arrangement other people are dancing around. It may not have been purely a bad matchup. Rather, perhaps you just played it badly. It's the most common problem for any player, the most easily fixed problem, and yet the least diagnosed problem. Self-honesty will get you a hell of a long way in this game.


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## Hitman101 (Jul 17, 2007)

Mech tau is the way to go! hit him hard and fast right were it hurts! make yourself his worst fear jump a round make him think twice before taking his hand off that model.


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## Iron Warrior Tarn (Jul 16, 2007)

Tau are verry shooty, but they are worthless shots. Markerlights are very important to the tau. The aforementioned "fish of fury" tactic should slow down assaults. ive heard that an unit of kroot inside a wood/forest is effective as it allows the kroot to fire out, but forces the enemy to charge them. Check out games workshop's tau section online there are two sections on tau tactics there. Hope that helped.


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## stompzilla (Mar 8, 2007)

I've never used a markerlight once in serious competition and it's never really bothered me.


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

I use 2 markerdrones each in 2 separate squads of firewarriors for a total of 4. Not too many, not too expensive, and usually allows me to get in a few decent BS upgrades or negative cover saves a game. Not a fan at all of Pathfinders though as I fing putting all your lights in the same place just ends up with a lot of dead lights in a short short time.


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## Severian (Jan 22, 2007)

Tau are extremely shooty *but* within a certain range. Use the mobility factor to position your units so that the maximum volume of fire may be brought against a smaller portion of the enemy forces. (sounds simple but needs good tactical play to do) 

Try and try again man

PS oh and just so we are really clear on this Close Combat is not in line with the greater good, ok? :lol:


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## elttat (Feb 23, 2008)

All i can say is USE COVER. Try out the tactics Fof (using fish being a skimmer to prevent assualt while giving you LoS) and JSJ (using suits 6 in assualt move to hide behind cover after you have shoot), they are very effective. Remember, most tau tactics are about denying shots as well as shooting

check out advancedtautactica.com for more ideas and configurations


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## Nightbringer416 (Feb 16, 2008)

real question? has anyone lost using "fish of fury" tactic?


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## Estragon (Feb 25, 2008)

I've wethered a FoF with Nurgle terminators, but thats like saying 'I won in close combat with bezerkers.' As an anti-marine tactic, one of my regular opponents uses a fairly static fire warrior base with marker drones & a couple of fishes with smart missile systems. It makes advancing hurt. Lots. Markerlighted broadsides hitting on 2+ hurts too.
I _really hate markerlights._


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## Red Robe (Nov 18, 2007)

I use markerlights quite a bit..I never leave my pathfinders where the enemy can take them out too easy..most players I've seen put them out too far..patience always works..on a short table you'll have targets a plenty..putting markerlights in other units works very well..spread them out so you always have a few left in case the pathfinders go up in flames..as for the fish of fury..always works for me..I equip my fish with sms..31 strength 5 shots is an awesome sight..Kroot in cover are a pain for anyone..in woods..good luck getting them out..lots of good advice here in these forums..read and learn.

I own the SM army at my local club..he's never beat me..which really burns his ass..Chaos I've had trouble with..mainly because the dice gods were against me(when you can't hit with a railgun 3 turns in a row something is wrong!).

Good luck with your next battle.


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## coldstuff64 (Feb 11, 2008)

i think the best thing to do is to field several kroot units. not only are they ok shots, they can act as a wall around your shooty units.


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## Bogg (Mar 2, 2008)

Utillize the "chicken Faze", and move those Jump infantry so t your opponent cant shoot em, that`s a win for me :victory:


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## Tau Chaotix (Mar 1, 2008)

Bah, ignore everyone!

hiding behind stuff and firing railguns works for me.
i just use the HYL tactic (hold your line) with 2 FoF's around the flank.

Unfortunatley, this tactic doesn't work when they pull out Land Speeders with assult cannons and multi melters gallore.

-Olek.


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## Frostbite (Oct 17, 2007)

Hold the line tactics were used extensively in 3rd edition, but the Tau have evolved from there. Currently there are three primary strategies that are commonly used, being Mech, Hybrid and Mobile Infantry. Each plays very differently from the others, and have their own strengths and weaknesses. And for those who want to bash the summaries, they're pretty generalist and simple. It'd take a lot more room and time to post up a full tactica.

Mech is very simple, take minimum Fire Warriors inside Devilfish and load up with all the fast, hard hitting units you can. Generally you will see three railheads, 3 teams of 3 Fireknives (Plasma and Missiles) and a pair of Fireknife commanders with infiltrating Kroot and perhaps some Pirahnas along for the ride. It hits very hard and very fast, but runs into problems against enemies with lots and lots of guns or more mobility. Horde armies can also cause problems as Mech doesn't have nearly as many shots as they have bodies.

Hybrid can be either a combination of Static and Mech, or a Mech with lots of Fire Warriors. Standard lists tend to include a Broadside team with Fire Warriors and Kroot guards providing an anchor for suits and mounted Fire Warriors to move around while denying movement lanes. Hybrid tends to run a lot more dakka than Mech, and has trouble against vehicle heavy and fast assaulty armies.

Mobile Infantry combines the two, with a strong block of Broadsides and Fire Warriors (Unmounted) providing a tempting bait/firepower extreme anvil while Hammerheads, suits and Pirahnas provide the hammers. Taking Pulse Carbines on some of the Fire Warriors enables the ASS equipped Broadsides to move, thus making your firebase relatively mobile and able to threaten just about any place on the map while also outputting a high volume of shots.

For unit tactics, you have to play to the strengths of each unit. For Tau, victory point denial and overwhelming fire are what they do best. Fire Warriors in Devilfish and JSJ provide great VP denial, and Kroot 7 inches into trees are an annoying tool that refuses to die. Another key tactic is to try to divide the enemy force into smaller chunks and focus your entire army on that chunk till it dies, then get another chunk and repeat. Doing a double FOF works great here, especially with Hammerhead and Suit backup. You should have no trouble with that at all, considering the mobility of the Tau army. Just keep in mind that you have to use the entire army working together to achieve your results.


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## killer13 (Mar 7, 2008)

my friend plays mech tau and he smashes almost every one.the fish of fury tactic is really good.


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## Nightbringer416 (Feb 16, 2008)

killer13 said:


> my friend plays mech tau and he smashes almost every one.the fish of fury tactic is really good.


i personally think fish of fury is broken but, then again someone can same thing if were to field 3 monoliths. The difference is that i would need roughly 2500pts and the tau only need about 1500pts to pull FoF succesfully. I'm no hating on this tactic but, it is a easy way out of a battle.:victory:


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## Estragon (Feb 25, 2008)

FOF can be gotten around by either the willing sacrifice of something small as a target that the tau can't ignore (a CC combat squad?), or if you have something hardcore to back them up with. I love the idea of a fof-tactic using play realising his warriors/fish are now within 12" of something very hurty that was prviously advancing up the lines. Or 18 inches if they're assault troops....


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## Frostbite (Oct 17, 2007)

A FoF should only be used as a backup in the main offensive or as a way to deal with an isolated squad. Personally, I will never deploy a FoF unless I'm planning on killing everything within charge range anyways. The protective capacity is there just in case I roll bad or my opponent rolls well. Ideally, it'll be my full 2k hitting about 500 points of the enemy at a time.


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## Archangel41 (Mar 9, 2008)

At the gw were i play we got two tactics that have practically become universal for all tau there. The first is the tau shuffle, hide crisis suits in cover at start, jump out of cover in movement phase, shoot during shooting, and shuffle back into cover in assault phase. The second is called Dirty Devilfish, load all the fire warriors you can into as many devilfish as you can (make sure your firewarriors have carbines as this loses effectiveness with rifles), fly the devilfish forward, disembark the firewarriors behind the devilfish, fire weapons, hope to pin, end turn, on next turn load firewarriors and fly away.


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## Nightbringer416 (Feb 16, 2008)

your gws dirty devil fish is the same as fish of fury or FoF.

If i were to play tau i would try to build a battlesuit army minimum amount of warriors and full out crisis and the other one (railgun)suit. srry i forgot the name. not only because i love the whole mecha thing but, it looks like it would work.


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