Editing Warhammer 40,000/5th Edition Tactics/Tau (section)

==Helpful Hints and Fun Strategies==
[[File:Tauassault.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Rule number one. '''Never. Fucking. Ever.''']]

Here's probably the number 1 tip for the Tau. Do you like seeing squad after squad of Fire Warriors get slapped to death by Conscripts? No? Keep them out of melee combat.

The question often arises on the viability of Burst Cannons Vs. Smart Missiles Vs. Gun Drones for vehicles. To me, burst cannons are preferable to gun drones due to the fact that the burst cannons fire on vehicle BS, not gun drone BS. You also get more shots from the burst cannon than from gun drones. And the burst cannons never count as killpoints. While smart missiles are better than burst cannons, the higher price means it is better to spend that on essential wargear such as disruption pods and targeting arrays rather than smart missiles.

People often debate on the viability of each level of generic commander - the Shas'el vs. the Shas'o. The Shas'el has decent stats (almost everything is boosted higher than a normal battlesuit, especially delicious BS4 and 3 wounds), and all the options of the armory and special commander-level battlesuits available to him. The Shas'o increases most of these stats (BS5, 4 wounds, and LD10 among other things) phenomenally, as well as maintaining full armory and suit availability, but costs a third again as much. Using a Shas'el as a secondary commander or "throw-away" commander is a moderately effective tactic, deep-striking against the enemy's rear lines and tanks, and drawing massive amounts of fire for a turn. A Shas'o is a higher investment, and is best used in your own lines as a support unit, a "trouble-shooter," if you will, for intercepting enemies reaching your side of the board. Note, though, that if you want your commander shooting at BS5, you need to add a Targeting Array, which draws the point difference between the two to 15 points, and the Shas'o also gets that third weapon slot. Just remember, they are STILL not meant for melee.

'''Wall of Death'''
Piranhas are fast vehicles, and possess AV 11 in their front armor. While useless against dedicated anti-tank such as lascannons and melta, this makes them impervious to small arms such as lasguns and bolters. One can use Piranhas as a mobile "wall" against squads of foot-slogging infantry. The infantry will be unable to pass through the Piranha squad, and the Piranhas can even fire with essential impunity. For added hilarity, do not forget your flechette launchers. If used properly, piranhas can even block enemy vehicles, by moving in a way said vehicle cannot turn or move without coming within 1" of the piranha. The vehicle would have to move back, turn, and move out, avoiding the 1" proximity, disrupting their entire movement and possibly shooting phase. Just be careful when the vehicle shoots back.

'''Moving Cover'''
Everyone knows crisis suits for the Jump-Shoot-Jump, the ability to jump out of cover, fire, and jump back in, leading to endless annoyance for your opponent. This also works in reverse, with the humble gun drone and a squad of infantry. Have some gun drones (like the ones that come with devilfish) in front of some fire warriors. Move them together, the gun drones leading. When the shooting phase comes, move the gun drones back behind the fire warriors and shoot with impunity. Done firing? In the assault phase, move the gun drones back ahead. Instant cover! Brilliant! This works for both Kroot, Fire Warriors, and even Broadsides! Stealth Suits too can do the Jump-shoot-jump tactic almost as well as the Crisis Suit for a lower cost. Bear in mind their weaker statblocks and shorter range, however. Still probably the cheapest way to get jump-capable Fusion Blasters on the table.

'''Ninja Tau''' is a questionable tactic that no doubt has its uses to some people. The lynchpin of the army is a cheap, cheap shas'el commander with positional rely at a mere 65 point. For those who don't know, as long as the commander is on the board, from turn 2 onwards you can bring a single unit in reserves on at a 2+, but can roll for no other reserves. This is paired with 2 units of 4 gun drones - 48 points each, and 6 Fire warriors for 60 points. Overall then, the core of the army costs 221 points. You then buy stealth suits, crisis suits and a fuckton of kroot with full complements of kroot hounds. Even Broadsides with the stabilisation systems. Another good choice is a unit of piranhas with fusion guns to fill the last fast attack choice. Go second. Deploy the commander in hiding. He must hide. Go to ground if need be, just try not to get shot/assaulted. Turn 2, bring on the fire warriors to hide/derp around. Turns 3 and 4, bring on the 2 units of gun drones. Turn 5, bring on your entire army automatically and giggle slightly as (hopefully) you wreck everything. It's not a sure fire win by any stretch of the imagination, but it's supposedly funny to play.

'''Regicide''' is a strategy that arose with the introduction of the tau FAQ. Simply put, buy a cheap Ethereal and place everything else in transports, then execute the little fucker. Your soldiers will automatically pass the test and will be pissed as hell for having their head honcho spread evenly over their entire deployment zone. <s>And things were never the same</s> And things were actually quite the same. While things might be different in 6th edition, this tactic is more or less useless in 5th. 5th edition Preferred Enemy does nothing but let you re-roll to hit in CC. Couple this with the fact that the test is only taken by actual Tau and not units who MIGHT be put into CC (Kroot and Vespid) and the "bonus" you'll get from throwing away 50 points and an HQ slot isn't really something to jump for joy about.

'''Fuck Troops''' Fire warriors, despite their very sexy pulse weapons, kinda suck. This tactic minimizes their place on the field in place of maximizing the more effective battlesuits. Typically you have bare-bones squads of six fire warriors hiding in devilfish behind terrain. The whole time they sit there while your Crisis, Hazard, Stealth and Broadside suits do all the work until it's time to claim objectives. Ironically, this setup actually favors the Sky Ray over the Hammerhead, as this tactic heavily reduces the number of markerlights in your army, and bs4 laser pointers (not flashlights) on an AV13 platform are invaluable. One particularly effective tactic is to completely remove Crisis suits as well, and stick entirely to Hazard suits, broadsides and stealth suits. This makes for an extremely mobile and trollworthy army bound to make Space Marine armies shit their pants in rage.  

[[Image:Kroot_Trolling.jpg‎ |thumb|Just look at that grin on his face. An epic troll.]]
'''[[Kroot Conga Line]]''' is very, ''very'' situational (as in your opponent being a compete retard), but it is perhaps one of the absolute funniest ways to use the Kroot and twist the rules at the same time. This requires your opponent to have all of his forces in Reinforcements, but not Drop Podding or Deep Striking, and for you to have enough Kroot to form a line along the board. Simply infiltrate your Kroot to their side of the board and form a line that manages to keep in coherency while also covering the entire side. They will be unable to draw any reinforcements, they will count as Destroyed, and you will have won in the Deployment phase.
*'''Note''': This tactic also works in Battle at Dawn missions, just try to get your enemy to deploy first and if their troops are all more than 12 inches away from their side of the board, you can use any troops with 20mm bases for the same effect.

'''British Firing Line''' If you've seen The Patriot, you'll know what this means. Basically, just push as many warriors out on the field with two pulse rifles Tau up in the front and put all of the carbines in the back. Camp like a bitch in terrain but make sure there is a bit of open ground. Send your Crisis suits out to kill any and all ordinance carrying people.Have broadside suits camp in the back with a few ordinance rail guns to pound the living shit out of any assaulting units while said assaulting units are being chewed the fuck out of them. Laugh as you see said enemy cry as his precious troopers being chewed to bits by fire.