Grimdark Future/Tactics/TAO Coalition

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Why Play Tao

You want shooting, and lots of it. While TAO melee tends to not be the best, they do have a few tricks up their sleeves, but the biggest thing they bring to the table is effective guns, vehicles, and mecha.

Pros

• Lots of AP(1) and AP(2) weapons
• High volume of fire
• Vehicles and suits can be fairly mobile, with Ambush, Flying, and Strider being common rules
• Jackal units can provide some cheap melee/chaff
• There are multiple ways to improve shooting even further
• Shield drones allow units to actually be quite tough

Cons

• Most units are pretty expensive
• Low-average number of activations
• Almost everything sucks at melee
• Morale is average at best

Special Rules

• Accelerator Drone: Extra 6" range for a Spotter Squad's Pulse Carbines. Considering how nasty Carbines can be, this can be a pretty nice upgrade particularly in a combined unit.

• Beacon: Ignore distance restrictions for Ambush when Ambushing within 12" of this model. This is going to be highly situational, and is mostly useful for last-round objective contesting. Spotter Squads and Stealth Suits can take this.

• Elemental Power: The special ability available only to Sages, this is a great rule for only 15pts. You get to choose every turn between +3" move, +1 to shooting rolls, +3" to shooting range, and +1 to melee. This is especially useful in a combined Grunt or Spotter squad, since most of the time you will be using the +1 to shooting, but the others can be nice to have as options if the situation is right.

• Good Shot: Many of the core TAO units get this rule, which is basically just a +1 to shooting, not much more to say.

• Inhibitor Drone: -3" to charging this unit, this is again a Spotter Squad unique upgrade. At 15pts this is a bit expensive, but it gives one quite handy benefit - Ambushers can no longer charge this unit the turn they come in. For a Spotter Squad set up to be backline fire support, that can be a nice safety assurance.

• Shield Drone: Gives an entire unit Regeneration. Nice if you want to make a certain unit more survivable, but most of the time it's going to be better to just have more troops.

• Spotting Laser: Instead of shooting a weapon, you have a 50/50 chance to give +1 to shooting on an enemy unit per laser. The +X is one-time use only, so best used either against very tough targets or units with Stealth. You'll get the most utility out of this when either using Suits or combined units, so save your lasers for your hard hitters.

• Volley Fire: A Grunt Captain specific upgrade, for 25pts you give the Captain and his unit an extra attack with Pulse weapons when Holding. As discussed below, this is at its best when used with a 10-man Grunt Squad with Pulse Rifles or maybe Carbines. 21 AP(1) shots at 30" per turn for 245pts is not to be scoffed at.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Battlesuit Captain: A flexible tough combat hero who can function pretty well either on his own or with a unit of Battlesuits. He has a ridiculous number of weapon upgrades, so let's cover them one by one. Unlike normal suits, Captains can take up to four of these guns in any combination. In addition there are the typical drone upgrades. Gun Drones are an option in larger games where you really want even more dakka, while a Mini-Shield Drone is a good choice for a Solo Captain. Spotter Drones on the other hand are only good if you're really desperate for more lasers. You're taking this Hero because of his shooting, why take that away?
  • Flamethrower: Cheap, lots of attacks, but maybe a waste with his Q3+. A good choice to fill out weapon slots or on a melee build.
  • Plasma Rifle: Again, cheap filler for a long-mid range build. AP(2) makes it a decent choice against armor.
  • Burst Carbine: Twice the price of a Plasma Rifle, shorter range, but 4x the attacks at AP(1). A decent all-round choice, but getting expensive.
  • Ion Carbine: One of my favorite choices for a mid-range build, you get one shot at 18" with AP(2) Blast(3). It's not as reliable as the Burst Carbine, but with Q3+ you'll be hitting most of the time, and it's more cost effective than Plasma Rifles.
  • Frag Pod: A bit of an odd one. Since this is Indirect, you'll be less accurate when moving, and it's 25pts. This may be situationally useful, but isn't going to be a typical choice.
  • Missile Pod: Take this if you want to hit back-line units or just generally across the table. Against another gunline army this could be nice.
  • Rapid Burst Carbine: Probably the most cost effective option, but oh it is expensive. 35pts for 8 shots with AP(1). That will melt most infantry and has a good chance of doing some damage to vehicles too.
  • Fusion Carbine: Your dedicated tank killer gun, only one shot but it's AP(4) Deadly(6) so whatever it hits will die.
  • Melee upgrades: Here you have two choices, you can add Rending to your melee for 5pts, or add Rending and Tough(+3) for 85pts. If you're planning on Ambushing, the Rending upgrade might be handy, while the Tough(+3) is mostly only worth it if you plan on running your Captain solo.

• Grunt Captain: A support Hero intended for Grunt units, this Captain doesn’t have much actual power. He shoots as well as a standard Grunt, with the same armor, and much of the same weapon choices. What he adds, besides a morale boost, is the possibility to add two extra drones to a Grunt squad, and the Volley Fire ability for an extra 25pts. He also has some melee upgrades if that’s a thing you want to do. Generally speaking, the only way you will want to run him is with Volley Fire in a 10-man Grunt Squad with rifles, as with rifles you have the range to Hold most often and get the benefit from his ability. Otherwise, take a Sage instead.

• Jackal Veteran: A cheap Hero for your Jackal units, this one is mostly there to add a little extra firepower and boost morale. He can take all the usual Pulse weapons, as well as a Sniper rifle or a couple small melee upgrades. Keep him cheap, with maybe a Pulse Carbine and/or a melee upgrade and stick him in a unit of Jackals if you want them to hit a little harder. The Sniper is a bit wasted on him since you're already paying more for the Quality upgrade, but on the other hand he is likely to be the last one alive so it keeps it protected.

• Sage: The TAO’s only access to Psychic, as well as a very useful support ability. For 10pts cheaper than the Grunt Captain’s Volley Fire, Sages can take Elemental Power which has more flexibility, on top of granting an even greater morale boost due to Q4+ with Fearless. Sages are squishy, but if you put them in a 10-man unit you’ll have a fair amount of protection for them, and you’ll get the most utility from Elemental Power. They can also take Psychic, although most of the TAO powers have only a 12” range, so Psychic 2 is only really worth it when facing armies that are likely to get close or in a shotgun squad. Against shooty armies Psychic 1 can be useful though, since it means you can get temporary Stealth each turn on a 3+.

Infantry

• Grunt Squad: Your core shooty infantry, these guys hit hard no matter what you give them. By default they have Pulse Shotguns, which are great weapons if you plan on putting them in a transport. Otherwise, it's worth giving them Carbines for an all-rounder unit or Rifles for a support unit. One of them can be upgraded with some melee weapons, but even still they're pretty pathetic in melee. They can also be given a Spotter Drone, a Gun Drone, or a Shield Drone. With a Shield Drone their price starts to go up, but it does make them surprisingly tough with D4+ and Regeneration.

• Spotter Squad: At first glance they're just Grunts with Scout and Carbines, but their upgrades are what make them unique. Besides the normal Drone upgrades, they can get up to 5 Spotting Lasers, up to 3 special weapons, and one special drone type, either Inhibitor, Accelerator, or Recon (which gives Beacon and an extra 4 AP(1) attacks at 18").
  • Scoped Rifle: A very long (30") range Sniper.
  • Ion Rifle: 30" AP(2) Blast(3) for 15pts. A little risky with only a 4+ to hit, but you can't argue with the range.
  • Rail Rifle: Probably the most useful of the three, a 30" AP(4) Deadly(3) gun. Still only hitting on a 4+, but this will scare any vehicles on the table. Even if you don't hit, it gives you table control which can be quite valuable. If you take these an Inhibitor Drone may be a good investment, because your opponent will want to take this squad out.

• Stealth Suits:

• Battle Suits: Ambushing, flying, tough as nails gun-toting mechas. They're not cheap, but they're hard to put down (arguably harder to kill than vehicles even due to Deadly(6) weapons being less effective against them). They start out without any real weapons, but they're able to pick up up to 3 guns in any combination, melee upgrades if you should so wish, and a buttload of Drones. Their Drone options are the typical ones (including Shield Drones for 80pts if you want them to be absurdly tough), and their melee upgrades basically boil down to adding Rending or AP(2) to their base A2 AP(1) weapons. Their guns on the other hand include a lot of options.
  • Plasma Rifle: Cheap filler, works okay against any target.
  • Flamethrower: Horde-killer, filler for short-range builds.
  • Burst Carbine: A good all-round gun, especially for shooting infantry.
  • Ion Carbine: An alright choice, basically equivalent to 3 Plasma Rifles but riskier to shoot. It won't be as reliable as on the Captain, so this is more of one to take if you're almost full up on slots already.
  • Frag Pod: Again, a weird situational one due to Indirect. It's really only useful against hordes which you cannot see.
  • Missile Pod: Nice for backline support or board control, but not very cost effective.
  • Fusion Carbine: An expensive vehicle killer, it will melt if it hits but again it's more reliable on a Captain.

• Sniper Drones:

• Gun Drones:

• Jackals: Cheap chaff if unupgraded, although also unremarkable. One model can get some extra melee upgrades and a Pulse weapon, although Pulse guns are probably not worth it with only Q5+. What they are nice for though, beyond being chaff, is the possibility of cheap Snipers. You can even get multiple in a squad, allowing you to deal with the opponent's special weapons before they get to the rest of your units.

• Jackal Hounds: Pure melee chaff, they're cheap, can move through terrain, and have Scout so turn 1 charges are easy to get. They don't do much though, so they're mostly there to distract or hit squishy units. They can get Poison and Furious for 5 pts each, with Poison being almost an auto-take due to their A3.

• Jackal Cavalry: Wow, a melee unit that can actually do some damage! While they only have Q5+, they're actually decently tough and have lots of attacks on top of Impact(3) in addition to Fast, Scout, and Strider. They can also take some heavy weapons, but that's not the main utility of this unit.

• Locusts:

Vehicles

• Hover Transport:

• Hover Tank:

• Hover Attack Bike:

• Heavy Battle Suit:

• Heavy Stealth Suit:

• Razor Fighter:

• Sun Bomber:

• Tide Titan:

• Surge Titan:

Army Building

Tactics

Grimdark Future Tactics Articles
General:	General Tactics
Alien Hives:	Alien Hives - Soul-Snatcher Cults
Aliens:	Dwarf Guilds - Eternal Dynasty - Jackals - Orc Marauders Robot Legions - Saurian Starhost - TAO Coalition
Battle Brothers:	Battle Brothers - Custodian Brothers - Prime Brothers
Elves:	Dark Elf Raiders - Elven Jesters - High Elf Fleets
Havoc:	Havoc Brothers - Machine Cult Defilers - Wormhole Daemons
Humans:	Battle Sisters - Feudal Guard - Gangs of Hive City Human Defense Force - Human Inquisition - Infected Colonies Machine Cult - Titan Lords - Rebel Guerillas
Ratmen:	Ratmen Clans - Vile Rattus Cult