# tau tactics



## TauCommander13 (Dec 6, 2009)

i am a new tau player in the world of warhammer 40k and i would appriciate any tips or pointers or even good battle stories and tactics for a tau army


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## Asmodeun (Apr 26, 2009)

Yarric vs a Commander, the commander will win, eventually. This happened to me and yarric just kept getting up for about 4 turns, only to get beat down on when he charged. Pretty funny to say the least.


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## Praxiss (Aug 13, 2009)

Tau tactics? Not a Tau player myself but i think their tactics revolve around shoot, shoot and shoot some more.

From what i have read on here Kroot aren't worth it although they are pegged as the Assault units of the Tau army.

Tau generally have good range and stupidly good St/Ap guns at their disposal. Form a firing line and assign targets priority.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Tau are like Eldar, albeit a bit more generalised in their composition, but essentially reliant upon their fancy tech to outflank and outmanuver the enemy. 

As others have stated Tau Firewarriors are basically shooty units, best used to wipe out the enemy at range. Take three units mounted in devilfish as your troops.

To supplement this your commander and elites should all be in battlesuits with jump packs, allowing them to jet around the battlefield with plasma rifles and missile pods, isolating and destroying enemy units, while your firewarriors unleash barrage after barrage at any unit attempting to intercept.

For heavy support broadsides and railgun-equipped hammerheads to add to the already impressive tally of ranged units.

As to your other choices, I'll leave that to you since I'm not a Tau Player. One thing I will say though is consider pathfinders and sniper drone teams. A lot of people will tell you they're not worth the points, but a friend of mine uses them regularly and so far they've proven up to it.

Finally, speaking from bitter experience, snipers are lethally effective at range, something important for any Tau army.


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## Epatus (May 17, 2009)

The best tactic I think for any budding Tau player is... Don't buy them! 

5e has hit the Tau hard. If you do continue to purchase these very nice but utterly useless models, be aware that you may not win very many games.

For those about to shout me down... two examples among many; 1. New cover rules and 2. Defensive weapons.

BUT! A tau army can no longer be eaten through a continous assault from sweeping advance.


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## Underground Heretic (Aug 9, 2008)

Epatus, what you are saying is right, but the Fio have given us answers to our enemies hiding in the craters of their own burning vehicles and our new recruits being cautious firing weapons. Recommending that one abandon the greater good for fear of a difficult road to tread merely shows why the Aun will lead us in uniting the galaxy. (ps. no offense meant)

Tau Commander 13, welcome to the ranks of the Shas'el. As you are already aware, the forces under your command each have their own role to serve in the greater good. To be succinct, remember how much honor one is honored for his or her sacrifice to save another warrior of the Tau'va. Allow your allies to be so honored in your cadre. They can serve vital defensive roles and preserve your tau, but do not expect them to survive their brave acts.

The Sullen One is correct in recommending that your fire warriors be accompanied by devilfish for a simple reason. Thought the mission types do not realize this, the fire caste has long ago learned that no land is worth dying to hold: let our enemies stand their ground and die, then we will take the land over their corpses. Allow your kroot allies to act as a charge buffer for your shas'la, using the time to either prepare a decisive return volley or to evacuate the area in their devilfish. Be patient until it is time to deliver the killing blow and sieze objectives on turn five.

Epatus is correct in saying that the path of the greater good is a difficult one. Our way of war is simple one, but it is not easy. The versatility of the XV suits provided by the fio is second to none and we can cut down the hordes of enemies like wheat, but we are a civilized people to whom fighting with our fists like brutes does not come easily. Refer to the wisdom of more experienced shas'els and the shas'os like Someguy and Katie Drake and you will be better prepared before you decide to embark on your quest.

In the fourth post of this thread, I have links to my opinions of three of the units in the Tau Empire codex, but remember they are only opinions. Good luck and good hunting.


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## stealthrat1 (Jul 28, 2009)

Epatus said:


> The best tactic I think for any budding Tau player is... Don't buy them!
> 
> 5e has hit the Tau hard. If you do continue to purchase these very nice but utterly useless models, be aware that you may not win very many games.
> 
> ...


Your post honestly made me laugh. I play top tier with my tau army and while it does not play itself like everyother top tier army, it still manages to win almost every game. The new cover rules make tau tanks very very difficult to destroy with a 5pt disruption pod. Also the tanks always needed to take multi-trackers, which now allow them to move and shoot as a fast vehicle. So at least those 2 examples were just stupid to say.


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## Culler (Dec 27, 2007)

Epatus said:


> The best tactic I think for any budding Tau player is... Don't buy them!
> 
> 5e has hit the Tau hard. If you do continue to purchase these very nice but utterly useless models, be aware that you may not win very many games.
> 
> ...


That's basically my advice. There is a premium placed on assault in 5th, and Tau just can't get it done there. They simply put just lack the oomph to compete. Experts with the army can get it to work at the local level, depending on their competition, but playing Tau in 5th is a handicap. Their whole codex comes down to 10 points per strength 5 shot. I love my Tau models and the way the army plays, it just isn't effective atm. Your enemies having 4+ cover saves out the wazoo and generally being fearless makes it very difficult to kill much of anything at range, and if even one khorne berzerker gets through it can take out an entire fire warrior squad on its own. Disruption pods are nice but when your enemy is landing sternguard adjacent to your tank it doesn't help at all, or when vendetta gunships are firing 3 twin-linked lascannons it doesn't help enough. Tau units are just too costly points-wise as is. You can do some interesting delaying tactics with vehicles blocking movement but not LoS, and IMO any good Tau list is mechanized, but in the long run it's just buying time.

I'm not sure where stealthrat plays, but there were exactly 0 Tau armies that made it to the finals of the 'ard boyz tournament, out of the whole nation, and that's pretty much as top-tier as it gets. I have yet to see Tau place in any tournament I've been to since 5th came out.

So if you're playing 40k with friends or in circles where it isn't super-competitive, you should probably be fine. If you're looking for a competitive tourney army, I'd recommend looking elsewhere.


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

The people who think Tau don't work as an army are usually the same people who think they are a gunline army. They are wrong on both counts. 

Winning with Tau is as much about the movement phase as the shooting phase. Actually, Tau don't have very much more firepower than a lot of other armies and aren't particularly good at killing transports. Their real advantages are their ability to keep moving and their range. The worst thing you can do is castle up in one location and stay there waiting for the enemy to drive up and massacre your guys, which he inevitably will.

I would say that Tau are probably the hardest army to play in 40k. Most people just aren't able to get them to work, particularly in an environment of biker nobz, lash daemon princes and so on. So there's some truth to the posts advising you to look elsewhere. If you want an easy life and an army you can use for knock around games, play space wolves, chaos or orks.


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## Epatus (May 17, 2009)

@ Underground Heretic: No offense taken. I like people who go through the pains of writing character.:biggrin:



stealthrat1 said:


> Your post honestly made me laugh. I play top tier with my tau army and while it does not play itself like everyother top tier army, it still manages to win almost every game.


You are joking, right? I would never accuse anyone of lying, so maybe it is just in your area. If you run a search on google for 40k GT results you will struggle to find a Tau in the top 20, in most cases in the top 50!



stealthrat1 said:


> The new cover rules make tau tanks very very difficult to destroy with a 5pt disruption pod.


TBH you have a point there. I wouldn't say they are "very very difficult to destroy". They essentially get a 4+ against all but the closest weapons. It improves their chances of survial.



stealthrat1 said:


> Also the tanks always needed to take multi-trackers, which now allow them to move and shoot as a fast vehicle. So at least those 2 examples were just stupid to say.


Again I agree, but they have always been allowed to take the multi-tracker. The issue is now that they cannot shoot any other weapons on the move. In 4e the could move 12" and fire everything cause the other weapons (burst cannons, SMS) where Str 5 defensive weapons. In 5e defensive weapons are Str 4.

The issue with the cover rules is that in 4e your XV's used to avoid being shot completely by hiding behind a piece of terrain. Now every man and his grox can take a shot at you. Yes you get a cover save, but before the couldn't shoot you at all! 

So I would disagree and say that these two examples are not just stupid to say.

Just for you, another example: 5e concentrates a lot more on troops. I think everyone would agree with that. Now look at the Tau troops and their transports. With 2/3 games being based on objectives you need to move your troops around. The Tau transport is 80 points basic! with that you get a BC. For less points you can get a razorback with either twin-linked AC or Lascannon which fires a BS4! If you wanted the full transport capacity of 10 men, it would cost less than half the point of a devilfish, for one point off the front armour!

Tau are too expensive, pointswise, for 5e.



Someguy said:


> The people who think Tau don't work as an army are usually the same people who think they are a gunline army. They are wrong on both counts.
> 
> Winning with Tau is as much about the movement phase as the shooting phase. Actually, Tau don't have very much more firepower than a lot of other armies and aren't particularly good at killing transports. Their real advantages are their ability to keep moving and their range. The worst thing you can do is castle up in one location and stay there waiting for the enemy to drive up and massacre your guys, which he inevitably will.
> 
> I would say that Tau are probably the hardest army to play in 40k. Most people just aren't able to get them to work, particularly in an environment of biker nobz, lash daemon princes and so on. So there's some truth to the posts advising you to look elsewhere. If you want an easy life and an army you can use for knock around games, play space wolves, chaos or orks.


I couldn't agree with you more. I used to play with a very mobile Tau army (nothing moved less than 12" a turn). A gunline will always go one of two ways. You wipe him out before he reaches you, or you die. More often than not it would be the latter.

I agree, Tau are probably the hardest army to play in 40k.

To the OP: If you want tactics, run a search for "fish of fury".


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## Asmodeun (Apr 26, 2009)

I'd say that it is often quoted "fifth ed is all about vehicles" and similar. Not that it really effects me.

The one thing that I find Tau really struggle with is stopping power. Just can't seem to get enough.
Markerlights can cull cover saves and make firing far more usefull, but most lists seem to use very few, if any.


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## Culler (Dec 27, 2007)

Asmodeun said:


> Markerlights can cull cover saves and make firing far more usefull, but most lists seem to use very few, if any.


That's because there isn't a cost-effective platform to put them on. Unless you're playing gunline (which you really shouldn't), and then 10 points for one on your shas'ui (which basically costs you another pulse rifle shot) is OK when coordinating fire, but still not all that effective.

I would also agree that mobility is key with Tau. I tried running hybrid gunlines early on but mobile really does work best. Successful games were always a fighting retreat where I shot up my enemy as I eluded their grasp.


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## projectda (May 12, 2008)

im not going to join the tau bash troll fest.
to be honest. yes tau have been hurt by 5e, but at the same time helped.
cover saves are not a big deal. markerlights reduce cover and do a lot more.
SMS also ignore most of the cover saves that youll run into.
XV8s can handle a wide range of things, based on configuration.
we can still move as fast as any imperial tank and shoot more of our weapons. with the execption of a land raider.
our tanks have a wide range of options.

tau just cant make an all comers list right now in 5e. so youll have to choose 1 of 2 ways to make the army. anti-horde or anti-armour. armour includes tanks and +3 or +2 models.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

(Firstly underground heretic I love charactor posting and thus I will begin mine in the same vain)

Shas'el you begin upon your quest to aid the greater good in turning those heathens that doubt our might (Epatus :ireful2: just kidding mate) and showing them that the light of the greater good will conquer all. Yet with the advance of 5th ed we struggle now more than ever against the tides of evil

Primarily shas'el we must now be mobile and embark in devilfishes at all cost for our enemies do best us with power swrod and fist yet do not despair because the pulse rifle is the best troop gun in the game (thousand son excepted) and we can outrange and out strength our foe and take down orks and tyranids with ease.

Whilst our mighty hammerhead doth cause fear amongst all with its railgun turning vehicles and enemies to dust with shot and submunition alike. Our tanks are hard as nails (4+ cover save for puny points) and the jump shoot jump move allows our elite crisis suits to elude our enemies and nail them from afar.

We have problems with fast assaulters and infiltrating armies and thus our mobility is essential as we must be able to relocate once more. The one thing 5th ed really has robbed us of is the ability to have at least a static contingent (pathfinders) where we can place our markerlights which allow us to negate cover and primarily up our bs to levels that even marines struggle to reach. This is necessary as our noble fire warriors though bearing fantastic weaponry do not aim with eagle eyed accuracy (they are shit at using them 10 shots becomes 5 hits and its a very demoralising sight). T

Shas'el Deathbringer still uses pathfinders for stealth suits are not cost effective bearers of markerlights and a unit of 8 can work wonders. Holed up in a building they provide us with a devilfish in which our valiant fire warriors can embark and if they get assaulted out do not fear.. it is under 100 points and it will take at least 2 turns which for a squad of 8 is about 8 markerlight hits which can help your crisis snuff out that pesky devestator squad or that fast assault squad.

Are problem is with armies such as marines and space wolves getting better and are quicker and still having a 3+ save, able to reach our valiant warriors with drop pods and infiltrate( especially space wolf bloody scouts) we are being forced to bulk up on plasma rifles as a fail safe kill for those well armoured troops.  

However to combat this I would advise fish of fury. Land your fish disembark your fire warriors 12 inches away and blast from underneath your devilfish. They have to go round the fish so with a normal 12 inch charge range they cant reach you. However with this tactic I advise markerlight support and beware of fast assaulters who can still reach us despite our fishes protection.


Thus the plasma rifle and the fish of fury are our best weapons against the 3+. However plasma are not only expensive but reduce the amount of hordes we can kill leaving us vulnerable to tyranid ork and guard attacks. Whats more 4+ cover for shooting through a unit has meant the fish of fury no longer works against nids and orks for the heathen xenos now recieve a cover better than there armour.

Those terminators armed with shields upon there arms have a supernatural ability to deflect our pultry efforts to bring them down are just a pain in the greater goods all seeing and knowing backside.

In summary 5th ed has meant almost everyone is mounting up in vehicles which is placing strain upon our railguns yet we are phased with a dilemma to take our favourite and cheapest bearer of the railgun the broadside as infiltratring valks bikers and drop podding troops mean these slower warriors are no longer viable compared to the mobile railhead even with the ASS giving them some degree of movement.

However even the railhead with 5th meaning you hit on the rear armour it is necessary for us to move at least 6 inches preferably 12 in order to avoid being destroyed with powerfists (strength 8 to strength 10 is not a big gap). Though our disruption pods portect us from range they do not prevent us from assault. A 12 inch move may escape (6+ hits) yet it means we must sacrifice a portion of our fire power. 

Really and honestly comrade, we are boned but if you like a challenge and are willing to exert the effort into careful creation of army lists and thinking through movement and shooting with exceeding care, they are still an insanely good army and bloody good fun to play. 

As a small summary through all that despair and jargon i have given you a few little bits of advice that helped me anyway

Jump shoot jump: A 6 inch move in the assault phase can help us evade enemy assault and get us in cover. plan it and use it wisely.. try and find soldi cover if possible so he has to go round the building and cant shoot you through it

Move your vehicles: Prevent assault

Fish of fury: Wont explain again you must wade through the despair

Markerlights: No good way to use them but they really are a necessity in my opinion

Finally the one piece of advice i didnt give before. Concentrate your fire.. divided they stand united they fall. Fire warriors working together with markerlight support are deadly and can take down even the hardest warriors.


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