# Whats up with Tau?



## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

I've read a few threads in the Tau army list/tactics sections and it seems the majority opinion is that as of right now they are a little weaker than they should be...is that true? Are they worth collecting? Any comments are appreciated!


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## Barnster (Feb 11, 2010)

The issue with tau at the moment is that they cannot do assault and there will always be assualts in a game. Tau have no unit that can work when lines start to crash if you can't win in 2 turns shooting, you lose, and with cover the way it is you can't win with shooting any more.

Tau are alot weaker than in their "glory" days but can still be fun to play and capable of winning games but it won't be turn up and win games


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

Ohhh I see, I know they are getting updated next year but what would you recommend starting to collect since now? Or just wait it out? Or move on? I like their basic troop models and figured they are a more D heavy army which is the playstle I prefer but I'm not sure if they are worth collecting since now


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## LordKulvax (Oct 5, 2011)

They are definitely a nice looking army, if it's an army you really enjoy the look of then proxy a few games with some friends and play test some things. That's what i do when deciding a new army


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## Ravner298 (Jun 3, 2011)

Outside of kroot tau really don't have an answer for assault as stated above. With the abundance of 4+ saves in 5th edition, the gunline list doesn't have good results as in previous editions. They can put up a fight...with alot of battlesuits and pirahna/devilfish spam....but don't expect to win alot of games.


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

Thats a shame, I might have to get in a practice game this weekend then and see how they are or hopefully even watch someone who runs them


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## Barnster (Feb 11, 2010)

Primary mistake new tau players make is using them as a static stand and shoot army, they currently need to be moving all the time

Currently theres no real static stand and shoot style army out there simply as this edition is all about assualt, but have a look through the codex, proxy up a small game and have some fun with the ideas. Even post up a list and everyone will tear it to shreads, but honestly thats a good thing

If you like the models that may be enough to learn some nifty tactics of how to play with them, they are fun but they take some patience to be good with.


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## Wingman (Jun 27, 2011)

I love my Tau and still continue to play regular games at my LGS. The paint schemes are very cool and generally will be something meant to blend in. They were my first army and still my favorite although I really enjoy Dark Eldar.

As far as collecting them goes get lots of devilfishes and Skyrays. The reason you want to buy skyrays and not Hammerheads is that the Skyray box costs the same and comes with the missle set and a railgun so you can use both. I also reccomend that you buy or at least look at the Forgeworld Hazard suit models because they are in my opinion so much better than the cardboard boxes taped together look of the crisis suits.

I normally field a mech army where all my Firewarriors start out in a transport and I play the rest with suits and tanks. You will need to stay mobile and be willing to sacrifice a few units so that your big hitters stay in the game.

Although they are fun to play you will lose games and most often it will be an up hill struggle when you play heavy CC armies.

If you ever have any questions about Tau feel free to message me and I will get back to you whenever I am on.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

no power weapons for kroots means they get battered by other assault units,
we're fast but with ba assault squads they just catch us too quickly

our troop options are a burden not an asset with most people minimising them and putting them in a fish because 12 fire warriors means 6 hits which is as most things are toughness 4, 4 wounds then a 3+ armour save. which comes to about1-2 meqs or 4 a turn for lighter armour. a 120 point unit that will be mowed down in assault if you keep it static or absolutely trounced by a couple of heavy bolters if its out of cover.

None of our troop options out of vehicles is hard enough to hold an objective.

Essentially tau have no assault phase and our shooting phase isnt quite good enough for us to hold our own. If i can get most of them out of their transports early on, i can manoveur round them and with a bit of luck hold my own in a killpoint game. However if its objectives it gets really tough as if they manage to pop my devilfish i have an immobile troop choice with a low toughness and low chance of survival.

I dont want them to give us an assault unit, its not how tau plays, they need to give us something to counter the assault phase, like tau automatically running away after an assault with no sweeping advance from the enemy as if to simulate the ones killed in assault are just the rearguard sacrificing themselves for the greater good.
I dont see that happening but i wouldnt change my army, i love my tau.


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

deathbringer said:


> I dont want them to give us an assault unit, its not how tau plays, they need to give us something to counter the assault phase, like tau automatically running away after an assault with no sweeping advance from the enemy as if to simulate the ones killed in assault are just the rearguard sacrificing themselves for the greater good.
> I dont see that happening but i wouldnt change my army, i love my tau.


Hit and Run in the BRB Pg75?


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## Alsojames (Oct 25, 2010)

Hit and run only works if the unit with that rule charges I think.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

couldn't snarl at that being added to the tau arsenal though the tau average initiative being 2 or 3 could be a bind. Would increase the value of having a shas'ui on your suits though.

just checked the rule book nope, any unit locked in combat it says.


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## ThoseKrazyKasrkin (Aug 2, 2011)

Barnster said:


> Currently theres no real static stand and shoot style army out there simply as this edition is all about assualt, but have a look through the codex, proxy up a small game and have some fun with the ideas. Even post up a list and everyone will tear it to shreads, but honestly thats a good thing
> 
> 
> > Except of course IG. All those templates make a diference.
> > Of course i normally run absurd amounts of armour


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## jaysen (Jul 7, 2011)

I've played against IG quite a few times, but never really went against one with a lot of templates. What sort of list is this? Leman Russ tanks and basilisks?


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## ThoseKrazyKasrkin (Aug 2, 2011)

Grenade launchers, flamers demo charges etc


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## C'Tan Chimera (Aug 16, 2008)

Tau cannot melee for squat- even their kroot friends suck.

This in theory should only sound like one acceptable flaw, but GW has geared all races in the game since then towards one strategy: "Move, shoot, move, shoot, assault"


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

Alsojames said:


> Hit and run only works if the unit with that rule charges I think.


Nah it's either side at the end of a locked combat. It would at least give them a way to possibly get away from an assault. Although it doesn't engage with their inability to perform in any way in an assault. Do Tau have defensive grenades at all? If they do are people forgetting to use them?

Other than that I don't know. Give Fire Warriors spiky armour in the hope that the enemy will impale themselves whilst brutally murdering an entire squad?


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

The Tau Army can be one of the strongest - Tanks ignore half the damage incoming, are skimmers so don't struggle from terrain as much, have that beautiful Armour 12 which is the make or break for Missile Launchers (5+ to penetrate is a toughy), and have mobile high strength low ap firepower.


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## Moonschwine (Jun 13, 2011)

Downside: The drawback to Tau is you get creamed in an assault. Imperial Guard off-set getting creamed by having large blob units to wade-down the opponent turn after turn purely through the number of sacrificial lambs they can throw at them. Add in 4 power weapons (one on a commissar) and a guard unit can actually throw out a little bit of hurt. Tau on the other hand aren't able to do that, even with Kroot who lack any kind of armour save to CC stuff you tend to get rammed. Add this to deep-striker armies and the fact that mech / cover gives Tau too many targets to fire at and Tau are quickly overwhelmed and put on the back foot within 2 turns. 

4+ Armour on rank and file is also a bit of curse at the moment because it prices your units up considerably, but these days the name of the game is to bring alot of weapons that are multi-shot/template and are medium strength (5,6,7). By chance these are the ones that tend to be AP 4 - meaning they typically kill you on 2's if your not in cover. Which means you need to pray you start in cover or waste a couple of turns you don't have getting into it.

Now then the positives:

Tau are a little weak, but that doesn't translate as "useless". I won't lie to you that game-wise you'll probably find yourself drawing or even losing more than you win. However I think Tau offer more than just Win/Loss Ratios. Infact I think they serve a much greater good (see what I did there) for people who play them.

IMO, Tau are a transitional army good for your first or second choice of force. This is because Gunline armies are unique because they teach you how to take and cope with losing assaults since 9/10 you rely on firepower to win the day, In turn they teach you good positioning and dare I say it - tactical acumen when it comes to playing. They are also a really good army that helps you learn what you can and can't sacrifice in a game. Honestly, I always prefer pointing new people to armies like IG, Orks or Tau rather than SM's simply because from my experience they learn how to play and take losses on the chin rather than rage-quit when UBER MARINE LORD LOLLINGTON dies.

Furthermore, Tau have a good model range, can be painted to look absolutely fantastic (more so than marines imo) and, ultimately are next in line for an update (since Necrons is now 5th Nov). These things may seem superficial, but the Tau deserve more credit than they are given.


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## Wingman (Jun 27, 2011)

Great post Moon, I agree with you on all points and target priority is an important factor to learn early on.


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

Just got home and read through all the posts! Thanks for all the great responses and advice, I was leaning towards necrons about a week ago but now Tau has caught my interest and from what you guys are saying, they stink in assualt but also have their own positives. I don't mind losing too much haha but like you were saying Moon this is an army that will teach you how to actual play on the game board itself rather than just shooting running shooting and then finally assaulting which is what I am used to now. It definitely seems interesting and like you said earlier I'll be checking out those FW models for the suits! Thanks for all the help guys!

One question though..is it worth getting kroots? I know its all Tau have for CC but is it imperative? (dont like that model much lol)


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## C'Tan Chimera (Aug 16, 2008)

Praevarus said:


> One question though..is it worth getting kroots? I know its all Tau have for CC but is it imperative? (dont like that model much lol)


Eh, that's actually a really good question. Kroot are an ultimate catch-22, really. They can actually be quite helpful if you're going up against an army like IG, Orks or Tyranids- but don't expect them to be anything more than sacrificial units in the latter two examples.

Here's the thing- the Kroot had a lot of good things going for them-they were cheap *points wise, they're as over the top expensive as everything else from GW* , actually possess some good ranged attacks for said price, can brew up a shitstorm of attacks on the charge, can infiltrate and have some would-be awesome cover rules. But it only took two things to split the retard atom:

1. No save. At all. BUT! A Kroot shaper can give them a six up save! HAHAHA.

2. The ridiculous cover saves they can get apply solely to forests. This is astronomically baffling to me. Aren't these the guys who can sculpt their own DNA so they could adapt to different scenarios? It should apply to all types of cover! 

So that's the summary of the infuriating Kroot- so close to being good, yet so far away from it. I got all my kroot from the battleforces, so ultimately I'd have to say since I've never felt the need to actively go out and buy some, you shouldn't either.

However, it could be worth grabbing some Kroot Hounds- or make some stand in conversions. They're essentially the same, but get a higher initiative so they can do damage before they're squished.

PS: I know the Krootox are wonderful in DoW, but they couldn't be any more useless in the tabletop game. Your wallet will thank you for avoiding them and so will your other Tau.


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

Ahhhh I see, yea I'm guessing I'll be avoiding them for now and maybe getting them if I can find them cheap later on....the idea of playing with an army that can get squashed like a bug in CC is scary but I'm guessing like others have said it requires lots of movement and good positioning ..thanks for the advice chimera!

ps. chimera = gargoyle = awesome ...I just like the word for some reason lol

One thing that I hope doesn't happen is that they change the fire warrior models next year a lot and then the current ones look super outdated lol but I'm guessing I should start with a squad or two of them


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## Moonschwine (Jun 13, 2011)

Praevarus said:


> Just got home and read through all the posts! Thanks for all the great responses and advice, I was leaning towards necrons about a week ago but now Tau has caught my interest and from what you guys are saying, they stink in assualt but also have their own positives. I don't mind losing too much haha but like you were saying Moon this is an army that will teach you how to actual play on the game board itself rather than just shooting running shooting and then finally assaulting which is what I am used to now. It definitely seems interesting and like you said earlier I'll be checking out those FW models for the suits! Thanks for all the help guys!
> 
> One question though..is it worth getting kroots? I know its all Tau have for CC but is it imperative? (dont like that model much lol)


Good to hear mate. Honestly with all the Necron buying at the moment you will see many people switching and the meta shifting if they are worth half their salt on the board, you'll be in a prime position to build a small force and wait for the new stuff whilst learning what works in your favour against current lists - usually not very much changes weapon statistic wise.

As for taking Kroot. Well it's all about what you want to use them for. Tau Infantry isn't the best thing in the game at the moment but One advantage is they can infiltrate which in turn gives them outflank, meaning you can use them in several ways.

The first way counts on you winning initiative and this method is to infiltrate them as far forward in order to try and push your opponent back as far as you can in deployment - which is always useful because the more units have to move towards you, the more pulse-rounds and rail-guns and missiles are going to be thrown at them them. Games have been won by Infiltrating Kroot alone.

The second way is to hold onto them and walk them on the board edge you need them to and then go and contend / capture an objective in the game. Which has it's own merits and drawbacks. A basic 10 man squad has something like 30 attacks on the charge for very cheap; if something is just sitting on an objective chances are it's taken some tertiary fire and taken a few wounds, which means that a surprise Kroot-rush in the late stages of the game can have you winning an objective or at the least contending it. 

The third approach is the speed-bump approach. You stick them far forward, and charge the nearest thing that gets close, pray you do something then die in the slowest must frustrating way possible for you opponent. It's a bit disheartening to see them die battle after battle, but there's a strange honour in it all - afterall they die for the greater good of the force. Also you have to think of it like this: an opponent with power-weapon geared forces will want to be hacking up suits and more valuable targets; take great pleasure in highlighting the fact Kroot don't care if they are dying to being punched in the face or power-sworded to death; quickly they become fearsome units because no one wants to time sink something into killing them and I've seen the moral victory won over and over when a unit of Power-Weapon Veterans have spent the majority of the game squishing valueless Kroot worth a fraction of their points.


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

The first two methods really make sense to me and so does the third but I like the idea of infiltrating them or using them later in the game as a sneak attack of sorts so I can definitely see these two tactics working. Hopefully they don't get wiped out too quickly though. I'm guessing these tactics imply having the rest of your forces keep a good distance and get what shots they can in ..or should they generally also be crawling up the battlefield?


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## SavageConvoy (Sep 21, 2011)

Getting wiped out quickly is actually one of their benefits. Infiltrate, block advance, get charged, get wiped out. 
Space Marine #1: Hahaha! We killed those dirty xenos!
Space Marine #2: What are all these little red dots on our armor? 
Space Marine #3: Does somebody hear a jet pack? I really hope it's not a jet pack. I hate those things.

One thing you should focus on getting is suits. Filling up the elite slots for XV-8's is one of the only effective ways to make the army cost effective. When making lists, you should start with a basic frame along these lines. 
2 Pathfinder small squads +2 mandatory devil fish.
2 FW squads minimum size
2 small "IMA DIE" kroot units
Then figure out how many points you have left and fill it with PR/MP or railguns.


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

SavageConvoy said:


> Getting wiped out quickly is actually one of their benefits. Infiltrate, block advance, get charged, get wiped out.
> Space Marine #1: Hahaha! We killed those dirty xenos!
> Space Marine #2: What are all these little red dots on our armor?
> Space Marine #3: Does somebody hear a jet pack? I really hope it's not a jet pack. I hate those things.
> ...


lmao love the SM dialogue! How many XV-8's would you recommend?


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## Dark_Void36 (Oct 21, 2011)

I like Tau.

Hopefully with the expected redesign of Tau in the near future, GW will be giving Tau the cc support they need.


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## SavageConvoy (Sep 21, 2011)

The standard I guess is about 3 suits per 500 pts.
I always try to fill in all elite slots with 2 suit teams before filling in the 3rd suit, just to help spread around the firepower. 
Try to get 10 suits, expensive I know. But that'll give you 3x3 for the elites and one commander. So that'll make you fit into most games until you get into the larger games and need to fill up commander slots.


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## C'Tan Chimera (Aug 16, 2008)

SavageConvoy said:


> The standard I guess is about 3 suits per 500 pts.
> I always try to fill in all elite slots with 2 suit teams before filling in the 3rd suit, just to help spread around the firepower.
> Try to get 10 suits, expensive I know. But that'll give you 3x3 for the elites and one commander. So that'll make you fit into most games until you get into the larger games and need to fill up commander slots.


*cough* Or you could push the envelope and model some stealth suits into a stand in model for the actual suits. Three maxed out slots for the price of what would normally be one. 

/cheapass


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

C'Tan Chimera said:


> *cough* Or you could push the envelope and model some stealth suits into a stand in model for the actual suits. Three maxed out slots for the price of what would normally be one.
> 
> /cheapass


Haha I guess that could always work...10 suits in total inthe long run I'm guessing then, I'll have to check ebay too later on to see if I can get some for even cheaper


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## jaysen (Jul 7, 2011)

Tau do have one of the best super heavy flyers in the game. If I get a tau army it's going to be strictly for Apoc and consist of flyers and super heavy walkers.


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## jaysen (Jul 7, 2011)

They should give tau some limited use CC force shields. Don't make them beasts in CC, but at least make it where they can last a round or two.


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## SavageConvoy (Sep 21, 2011)

C'tan Chimera .... I hate you so bad for making me realize too late that I could have turned a wonderful model into something that would have saved me a crap ton of money and would actually use.

Which super heavy are you talking about? I swear if I hear one more person bring up the Manta like it's actually feasible to bring into a game. Even proxy would require 10lbs of styrofoam.


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

Whats this manta thing? a giant Tau death doom ultimate ship? :shok: haven't heard of it before


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## MetalHandkerchief (Aug 3, 2009)

jaysen said:


> Tau do have one of the best super heavy flyers in the game. If I get a tau army it's going to be strictly for Apoc and consist of flyers and super heavy walkers.


Ehem, that would be the three best super heavy flyers in the game... :biggrin:

And to Moonschwine. That nice post on page 2 is soiled by the fact you say "Gun Line armies are good for practice" yadda yadda.

TAU SHOULD NEVER BE PLAYED AS ANYTHING BUT A MOBILE ARMY!


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## C'Tan Chimera (Aug 16, 2008)

Praevarus said:


> Whats this manta thing? a giant Tau death doom ultimate ship? :shok: haven't heard of it before












"Roll to see if you cry and if so, how hard."


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

What??? ...WHAT? ...WHAT IS THAT THING? :shok: you might as well put that down on the table and win by default! :biggrin:


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## Moonschwine (Jun 13, 2011)

MetalHandkerchief said:


> Ehem, that would be the three best super heavy flyers in the game... :biggrin:
> 
> And to Moonschwine. That nice post on page 2 is soiled by the fact you say "Gun Line armies are good for practice" yadda yadda.
> 
> TAU SHOULD NEVER BE PLAYED AS ANYTHING BUT A MOBILE ARMY!


:blackeye:

But I like static gunlines daddy...


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

Moonschwine said:


> :blackeye:
> 
> But I like static gunlines daddy...


You should probably play Imperial Guard then.


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## SavageConvoy (Sep 21, 2011)

Praevarus said:


> What??? ...WHAT? ...WHAT IS THAT THING? :shok: you might as well put that down on the table and win by default! :biggrin:


It's Forgeworlds most expensive single model. It has the rules for it in the Imperial Armor books.

It's like $1,500 or something. There are some tutorials on building one from scratch using styrofoam as the main body. That thing probably weighs 10lbs in resin. The Tigershark I know weighs too much for it's base to handle it.

And yeah. Everyone loves pointing out how awesome the Manta is, but it's base point cost is like 2,000pts I think. It is basically an entire army in one super heavy flyer that really should have it's own class.


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## VK-Duelist (Oct 4, 2010)

Don't it got around 32 weapons?

If so....


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

SavageConvoy said:


> It's Forgeworlds most expensive single model. It has the rules for it in the Imperial Armor books.
> 
> It's like $1,500 or something. There are some tutorials on building one from scratch using styrofoam as the main body. That thing probably weighs 10lbs in resin. The Tigershark I know weighs too much for it's base to handle it.
> 
> And yeah. Everyone loves pointing out how awesome the Manta is, but it's base point cost is like 2,000pts I think. It is basically an entire army in one super heavy flyer that really should have it's own class.


Guess complaining that stuff like dreadnaughts are too expensive seems a little weak compared to the manta :laugh: that is insane though! They should make something that looks similiar to that but like a regular sized model in next years update for Tau


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## SavageConvoy (Sep 21, 2011)

You should check out Forgeworld. They have a couple things that may be worth getting for Tau. 

The Barracuda and Tigershark are the only two flyers that I'd consider getting and the Tigershark still costs about $250 I think.


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## jaysen (Jul 7, 2011)

The sad thing is, that two BA Storm Ravens can bracket and kill a Tigershark fairly easily.


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## C'Tan Chimera (Aug 16, 2008)

Nah, that's just GW and their Spase Marens being Spase Marens. If they weren't inclined to beat most other races, than where would all the money come from?!


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## MetalHandkerchief (Aug 3, 2009)

jaysen said:


> The sad thing is, that two BA Storm Ravens can bracket and kill a Tigershark fairly easily.


Which is fluffy. The Tiger Shark AX-10 was the first Tau machine to be designed purely for hunting Titans, which they did expertly, helping to turn the Damocles Gulf war in their favor. It is not designed to dogfight, although Storm Raven vs. Tiger Shark it's all about which craft gets the first shots off...

And I can only see an AssCannon armed SR kill a Tiger Shark and take out all 3 hard points. Multi-meltas seem more common, and such an SR config couldn't take out a Shark.

EDIT: Oh, you said two Storm Ravens. Nevermind.


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## Hail to the Emporer! (Feb 25, 2011)

I recently played a tau player with my imperial guard, all that happened was that my guns out ranged his, so I had 2 turns of bombing him with Leman Russ's and the like.
The Tau just aren't as good as they should be in the shooting phase.


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## SavageConvoy (Sep 21, 2011)

One thing your missing is that it's not just the shooting phase that the tau are supposed to be good in. Right now we are missing quite a bit of firepower compared to the more recent armies, but it's always been about mobility and adaptabilty.

All of our tanks are skimmers, they're defenses are generally higher, and have a higher standard for firepower (excluding templates)

Our elite units are meant to have multiple loadouts and be able to deepstrike and rapidly move across the field to gain better vantage points and accomplish whatever their loading dictates. Be it tank hunting, horde suppression, or taking out the heavy infantry.

Our troops... well they suck now, but they have a decent weapon with a decent range. They are supposed to be able to rapidly deploy and lay out a lot of hurt, but they cost a bit too much currently and have too few options.


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

Yea it seems the Tau are lacking in a lot of departments and are a bit hard to play buttttt heres to hoping to early 2012 revamp!


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## VK-Duelist (Oct 4, 2010)

And if the rumors are true, then Philip Kelly is writing the new dex!


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## SavageConvoy (Sep 21, 2011)

Tau lack a few things, but it's part of their charm. We know units get vaporized in combat and keep track of units life expectancy in minutes. We know that other armies can out shoot us, so we try being extra manueverable and provide juicy targets for distraction. And even though we have a weakened codex we know that the Imperium is still jelly of us. I see you IG players eyeing our Disruption pods.

I'm just hoping they don't give us a close combat unit. I know it's where we fail at, but it's part of the fluff and it's a great drawback that should be a reason to buff our shooting.


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## kain1989 (Dec 1, 2009)

the problem with tau is the new edition, they were just fine, and could be brutal without the assualt phase. but mech hammer came out and messed that up for them. they actually very unique fluff wise, since they're the only optimistic good guys in the the universe. but they'll get a new book, get on a more equal footing, then a new edition will dislevel them again.


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

kain1989 said:


> the problem with tau is the new edition, they were just fine, and could be brutal without the assualt phase. but mech hammer came out and messed that up for them. they actually very unique fluff wise, since they're the only optimistic good guys in the the universe. but they'll get a new book, get on a more equal footing, then a new edition will dislevel them again.


Yea I'm thinking since they are getting updated so late by the time they do the other armies will be on to 6th edition :no:


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## SavageConvoy (Sep 21, 2011)

Well the last rumors I've seen have indicated this.

Tau are done, and have been done for a while.

They are coming out right after Necrons, around April 2012.

After Tau get released it will be CSM and BT or DA in the 6th ed.

But hopefully Tau will be made with 6th in mind, much like I believe Necrons are.


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## Praevarus (Sep 27, 2011)

SavageConvoy said:


> Well the last rumors I've seen have indicated this.
> 
> Tau are done, and have been done for a while.
> 
> ...


 
Yea hopefully there isnt something major that would make the leap from Tau to the next edition extreme and make something about them obsolete...I guess we'll just have to wait and see!


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## HUMYN HYBRID (Aug 9, 2011)

as a massive tau fan, and long time tau player, i find i win more games than lose, but that is mainly because of the fact that i know them from the inside out, and i always seem to be playing the same armies, so its made it easier. i rely on crisis suits, and fire warriors. as for assault, if positioned well, kroot warriors aided with hounds can devastate many foes with ease. however, if being shot down, in the open, they drop like flies. i prefer jungle terrain, as they gain an additional +1 cover save in woods or jungles, so if there is an objective in woods, kroot would be my number one choice to pursue it. with a fair amount of kroot, aided with about 4 to six hounds, when they assault, not much infantry can withstand it. unfortunately, due to their no armour saves, i tend to lose them after annihilating a squad, so select your kroots foe before advancing, cus its not often they survive a match.


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## SavageConvoy (Sep 21, 2011)

But the Kroot's bonus to cover only applies in woods. I really hate in games my opponents feeling sympathy and throwing forest into an urban style field to give my kroot somewhere to go. One of the things I enjoy about WHFB is the random terrain pieces. I hate that the field has to be changed just so my unit can get a good cover save. That and they only have one support unit worth a damn, the hounds. But besides having a considerably large volume of attacks on the charge and getting a superior cover save if you happen to play a forest (Throwing a forest down just because you field kroot is BS) they just don't have anything to make them special. 

And also I'd like to point out that charging is generally a bad idea with the kroot, since they tend to die in one round unless you field a huge mob of them. It's just hard to get wounds against a unit with a 3+ usually while you take all your wounds directly, so you'll more than likely lose combat. And that just leaves your opponent free to move on his turn. They are much better when used to block a unit and pepper it with their weak weapons, and hope they waste their turn destroying the kroot in combat leaving them open during Tau's next turn.

I would love to see them getting some upgrades and making the shaper worth taking. They have so much great fluff and style to them, it's a shame they're just left so bland with no options, no upgrades aside from a 6+ armor save, and having abilities that need to be catered to when laying out terrain.

Also I'm not going to lie. I lose almost everygame I've played. The few exceptions being team games that ended in draws. But it's something that is hard for me to overcome. Yes it is a learning experience when you play, if you win or lose. Yes it's a game and it's fun to play, regardless of how well you do. I know all that. But it's frustrating being a new player, with an out dated codex and getting trounced by the more experienced players running the flavor of the month. I only play against GK, IG, SW, IG, BA, IG, and more damn IG. I'm looking forward to an update so atleast I can have somewhat of a leveled playing field.


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## jaysen (Jul 7, 2011)

I seriously doubt that Tau will come out after Necron. GW usually releases an imperial codex in between xenos ones.


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## SavageConvoy (Sep 21, 2011)

Well the rumor basically pointed out that the marine dex's were almost all updated in 5th which was prepared for 6th. With the exception of BT and Da, one of which rumored to be in the 6th starter set and the other getting a WD or codex release shortly after. So the idea was that GW was going to ramp up with Xenos and Chaos in the beginning to give the emphasis away from the Imperium of man. I know everyone says that GW would never do that, but I can see it happening. It's always good to hype up the villains and make the heroes shine, afterall.

I'm not saying that any of it is true, but before the rumor mill ground to a halt we saw a huge number of Tau and Necron rumors being pumped out. At one point in May-June, it appeared that Tau were due out in months because of the detail in some of the rumors. But it's hard to guess now that they've stunted the flow. All I know is that Necron and Tau were being worked on considerably and rumors were abundant for them. SoB were a rushed project but there were still some leaks. BT, DA, and CSM have had almost no indication they were getting worked on aside from minor banter about whats "Coming soon" or whats "due for update."


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## Breeze (Oct 16, 2011)

I'm new to the game and I recently begun collecting and playing Tau, I like the fluff, I like the models and I like the fact that nobody in my regular playing group plays Tau. In fact almost all of my gamer mates tried to steer me away from the greater good and I kinda like that too. 

I wasn't actually aware that Tau were getting an update so soon, and now I'm kinda hesitant to expand my army much further, knowing a bunch of new, cool stuff will be released with the new book.

I guess I should mention I'm yet to play a proper game with my Tau, so I can't really comment on their tabletop performance. I've been told they suck but I don't have much luck with my Traitors anyway, so I'm no stranger to defeat. I am a little disappointed to hear of the Kroot and their reputation for dismal failure as I recently got a bunch on the cheap. Still, one of the tables I play on regularly is covered with forest terrain so I might still give them a run.


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## SavageConvoy (Sep 21, 2011)

Kroot are good! It's just knowing that they aren't great that's the key to using them.


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