Warhammer 40,000/5th Edition Tactics/Tau

This is an old Edition's tactics. 6th Edition Tactics are here.

This should be your face playing Tau.

Why Play Tau

When you start a Tau army, you know others are going to hate you, be it because you are shooting when you should be punchan gaems, thrashing their best guys with weeaboo battlesuits, or abusing the ever-loving shit out of cheap-and-effective long-range missile strikes and widely-available infiltration and cover-save-raping. You may win battles, but that is not your goal as a Tau player: you play Tau to drink your enemies' tears.

Veteran Tau Commanders recommend a side of tea to go with it.

Remember, you cannot spell "Taunt" without "Tau".

On a more serious note, while the Tau are easily one of the lower tier armies around, they have an aesthetic that appeals to many kinds of players and have a very fast and mobile playstyle that brings in tremendous amounts of firepower. Contrast them with the other two shooting focused armies, the Necrons and the Imperial Guard and you'll see that they are a rapier to the IG's sledgehammer and the Necron's battleaxe.

Unit Analysis

HQ

Generic HQs

• Generic Ethereal: See Aun'Va. A very bad HQ choice. While a bodyguard Fire Warrior team with BS4 SEEMS good, they cost more than a normal team, and generally attract fire, with the large squad hard to hide in cover. And if your ethereal dies thanks to wound allocation, well, prepare for a circus of hilarity.

• Generic Battlesuit Commander: An excellent unit if kitted out properly. The versatility of the battlesuit chassis means you can equip him however you need to be most effective, and being the commander, all special issue equipment is available to him. See Battlesuits for setup tips. Commanders may take special bodyguards. The Generic Commander may take various suit types.
  • Generic: Same as the XV-8 base battlesuit.
  • XV-81 (Forgeworld Only): Offers the choice of a smart missile system.
  • XV-84 (Forgeworld Only): Offers the choice of a markerlight.
  • XV-89 (Forgeworld Only): Offers the choice of iridium armor. Interestingly enough, this allows you to bypass the special issue iridium armor limit.

• Bodyguards: These may only be taken by the 1+ Commander each army needs. These have the same options as an upgraded Crisis suit.

Named Heroes

• Aun'Va, Master of the Undying Spirit: The Space Pope is by all accounts possibly the shittiest HQ choice in the game. With useless bodyguards, and useless special rules and horrible effects that occur upon his death, you would have to be a lobotomized retard to take him. Normally a model is, at worst, a waste of points. Aun'Va manages to actually be a standing liability to your entire army.

• O'Shovah (Commander Farsight): Decent, but the issue is he's specced for assault in an army meant for shooting. His Dawn Blade is nice, as are the free bonding knives, and his ability to take a seven-strong battlesuit bodyguard and 1+ crisis suits is intimidating but impractical. Ork Fighter is mediocre, but the main problem is, being a breakaway faction, he gimps your unit selection by limiting everything not a Fire Warrior / Battlesuit to 0-1.

• O'Shasherra (Commander Shadowsun): With an experimental battlesuit, armed with dual fusion guns, this commander gets in close and fries things. That is the problem. You do not want to get in close. Not to mention that in the changeover to 5th Edition, her drones no longer serve a purpose. A built in shield generator and stealth suit is okay, but T3 and pisstacular stats means you should avoid this commander. On the plus side, so tsundere.
  • As a development/production note, she was released as a promotional unit for Cities of Death, and as such she was designed for it. If used in an extremely terrain heavy map (like a city), she suddenly becomes an unquestioning nightmare to vehicles, capable of jumping in-between impassible terrain to shove BS5 fusion blasters into things. Before everything became "ignores cover saves", she was a useful unit to take in these scenario's. However, most games are far more open and her usefulness fades. Her mini, along with Farsight and Aun'Va, have long since been discontinued in prep for the 2013 unconfirmed but eventual tau release. *Do note that her drone confers her leadership of 10 to any Tau unit (excluding Kroot) within 18" for morale/ pinning tests*

• Angkor Prok, Master Shaper (White Dwarf Only): A kroot shaper, thus not one of the mandatory commander suits you need. If you take him, you need to take some Kroot as well. He is an independent character that can join Tau units, useful for buffing leadership, and once per game, can reroll failed to hits in close combat. Not the best use of points considering: When do you actually use Kroot units as an actual offensive CQC force and why would you even let your Tau units CQC?

• O'R'myr (Commander Longknife, Forgeworld Only): A decent suit that doesn't quite know his role on the battlefield. A double-barreled Plasma rifle with an enhanced shield generator, he looks to be built to take down heavy infantry / monstrous creatures. But he also has an ejection system and once-per-game flechette launcher. He MUST take drones, and his bodyguard may consist of commander-level special suits. A good choice, especially against Imperium due to Fearless against them, though the generic commander is far better if facing hordes. I will point out that he functions as the best "non XV-9 commander" option in the army, and the flechette discharger is a really nasty surprise to swarm armies thinking they have just trapped the expensive tau HQ unit in CC.

• O'Ra'lai (Commander O'Rly, Forgeworld Only): O'Rly is a monster of a unit; he is your commissar yarrick, your failbaddon, your mephiston, your swarmlord, your gazghkull, with BS5, T5, I4, and the power of the XV-9 battlesuit, the main difference he has with the above heroes is that he is primarily a ranged fighter, whereas most uber-hq units tend to be close combat focused. **update** The latest Imperial Armor Apocalypse Second Edition rules have updated O'Ra'Lai's equipment. His shield no longer conveys stealth, but gives him a 3+ invulnerable save if fired at from outside 12 inches. On top of that, All of his weapons are now Assault 2. This involves all of the "gets Hot!" weapons, so you run the risk of taking more damage, but can cause a lot more pain as a result. With this change, he no longer has "Baby's First Lascannon," instead he has "Oh what the fuck, he has an assault 2 lascannon?!" His template weapons now make him a real nightmare to just about any army, and he also is now the best HQ unit the Tau have.
  • His drones, to the blind and stupid, seem like a liability, until you realize he was designed to be added to a team of three more XV-9's with shield generators. This does make his squad rather intensely expensive, but you will have a 3+/4++ unit that is stubborn that comes with drones ripe for sacrifice in an unwanted close combat. He does not have Independent Character for just this reason it seems. He also has the "Angry Old Man" thing going for him in his background, and he comes from the "Angry Tau" sept as well. This does nothing but double-up on his "Get off my lawn" baddassery.

Troops

• Fire Warriors: Yes, they have the best basic infantry gun in the game. Yes, they will go down like a sack of wet shit if properly targeted or assaulted. You want to keep these guys either in Devilfish or camped in cover. Devilfish give Fire Warriors much needed mobility, and safety from assault. After all, the second ANYTHING gets into close combat with a Fire Warrior squad, the Fire Warriors will lose. Even if it's other Fire Warriors or even fucking Grots and Rippers. With abysmal WS and mediocre BS, if these guys are firing, use markerlights to up their hit chances, although other units may make better use the markerlight tokens.

• Devilfish Troop Carrier: These allow your Fire Warriors to be exactly where you need them to be. With the ability to gain a 4+ cover save through the Disruption Pod wargear, and skimmer speed, think of this as the eggshell that you need to crack to get to the delicious omelette inside. Thanks to the FAQ, the drones only count as a kill point if you take them off of the Devilfish. These are almost necessary for a good army.

• Gue'vesa Human Auxiliaries (Games Workshop Website only): Cheaper than your average fire warrior, with lower armor and higher WS. Essentially identical to Guardsmen. They can be equipped with some Tau weaponry and grenades, but their main advantage is obvious - they cost extremely little and have decent range, so they're the Tau counterpart to Conscripts. The most damning thing here is the Traitors rule - any other Imperium faction hits them on a 3+ in close combat. Unless you need the numbers for cost these dudes provide, a suicide grenade unit, or a joke unit, you should generally pass on these guys. If you know you're not going against any other Imperial factions (lolwhat), then the Traitors rule doesn't apply, and you can enjoy your Guard squad.
  • Gue'vesa are, admittedly, good for rounding out a troops payload; for a relatively small amount of points, you can get a shooty unit that helps toss some ammo downrange and can help bulk up your forces with some numbers. When set up alongside a Fire Warrior or Pathfinder unit, they make a good screening squad that can keep things away from your more-critical units, and which are expendable enough to toss into the fray if it comes to that.

• Kroot: If you take Kroot as a combat unit they will disappoint you badly. They can take Orks in h2h and... Well that's about it. Even vs Guardsmen or Gaunts they'll probably tie on the charge and then either get worn down for a round or two or cleaned up in combat resolution (they'll handle conscripts, grots, or termagaunts pretty well, but anyone who gives a shit about losing some of those three units is retarded any way). The main strengths about Kroot are that they're resilient to ranged fire while in cover, they Infiltrate, and cost 7 points base. They're fuckin cheap and they can take up a fuckload of space. For around 200 points you can flood the board with almost 30 bases and while that may not seem like a lot the way people tend to line up their troops, if you push for that 2" coherency you can stretch those fuckers pretty damn far and thanks to infiltrate you have a huge amount of freedom in how you want to deploy them. What's this get you?
  • Area denial. A bigass block of worthless flesh your opponent has to chew through to get to the units that are actually worth a shit. He can't just step over them, and most importantly, they push the front lines farther towards your opponent's side of the board away from yours.
  • Say you're facing an army that likes to Deep Strike. Castle up your Tau wherever the you want and deploy the Kroot in a broad fan out from the forces you actually care about. The result? You've just cut off a huge section of the board that your opponent wants to be able to deploy in and forced him into dropping farther away than he wants to. That's fucking money.

In really big apocalypse games like 7500pointers, a blob of 150 kroot will be exceedingly difficult to get rid of without calling in a lot of template weapons (or a few weapons with very big templates) while only costing you 1000 points.

• Remote Sensor Towers (Forgeworld Only): To take these means you have the mental aptitude of a kindergartener. While cheap, armed with a markerlight, and grant a free target lock to one unit, they are immobile, die to anything, and cannot score. While flavorful, they are absolutely useless.
  • +++update+++ They now let a unit with 6" count it's weapons as twin-linked, so they are no longer terribad, just meh. Might be worthwhile in a dedicated defensive scenario where the Tau have to hold a fortified position against attackers, otherwise probably not worth it.

• Baggage Knarlocs (Forgeworld Only): A Knarloc in the troops choice sounds awesome at first, until you realize you need to take Kroot Carnivores first, he needs babysitters, and he has nothing going for him in terms of ranged weaponry or assault ability. Never even LOOK at these guys. They exist for flavor or special scenarios and nothing else.

Elite

• XV-8 Crisis Battlesuit: God's Gift To Tau. These guys are your mainstay. Their weapons are varied and versatile, and are specialized for various situations. They can take any combination of weapons and wargear unless otherwise stated. These guys will fill up your elites slots. The Crisis suits are famous for the Jump-Shoot-Jump - moving out of cover, shooting, and jumping back into cover, denying return fire and annoying the enemy, an excellent tactic. Each suit has three hardpoints which must be filled with weapons (see immediately below) and/or support systems (see "Tau Armoury" section even further below.) Typically a Crisis suit will have two weapons and a support system, but there is no rule against three weapons or even three support systems, or any other ratio you fancy. Obviously some combinations are more effective than others. Note too that if a single weapon system is selected twice, it counts as a single twin-linked weapon (filling two hardpoints) and comes at a price break. Their weapons include:
  • Airburst Fragmentation Projector: A large blast that ignores cover. One per army. Absolutely rapes Imperial Guard, Eldar, Tyranids Dark Eldar, and Orks. Fairly good all-around in spite of middling range, mostly because Large Blasts are hard to come by. Blow it up in the middle of a blobnid formation and enjoy the chunky salsa.
  • Cyclic Ion Gun: Massive amount of shots with technically-not-but-sort-of-rending but low strength. Good on a suit with high BS and gret for mulching blobnids.
  • Burst Cannon: Yet another S5 weapon. A mediocre choice considering that you already have dozens of S5 weapons and even other Burst Cannons fitted on Stealth Suits, vehicles, and Fire Warriors. There are better choices for commander weapons as a result. The only real reason to pack one onto a Crisis Suit or Commander is because you desperately need the extra short-range shooty (I.E. You're fitting it on a Crisis suit with a Flamer and/or fusion blaster), and for Commanders this is of debatable value. It is not a bad weapon by any stretch, just that Crisis suits have the opportunity for mounting much better ones in most circumstances.
  • Flamer: While not as strong as other races', this gets the job done against hordes of cover-campers and blob armies. Good if you deep strike a suit in and burn shit down. Even better when twin-linked. It is also the cheapest weapon available to Crisis suits, and so a good way to cram a little extra power under a tight point budget, and remember that you get a price break for taking two of them to get that twin-link bonus.
  • Fusion Blaster: Your melta gun and absolutely guaranteed to cause at least a medium-quality glancing hit on a direct hit (guaranteed penetrating within 6 inches). This is not an instant-skill weapon, and you will need to get better with it, so learn it. Use it. Love it. Jump behind a Baneblade and use this weapon to pop it open to see the look on your enemy's face, also great against battlefortresses, and the bigger daemonic engines along with anything else with noticeably weaker rear or side armor and can be useful against titans and stompas in a pinch (void and power fields only have an AV of 12 and go away on a mere glancing hit). Because it's AP1, it has a reasoned chance of killing a Monolith or the like, but because its Living Metal trait renders its Melta quality moot (not anymore!), it's much more chonky than it'd be otherwise. Can be fitted on Stealthsuits, but only every third one, giving it a cap of two per Stealthsuit squad, tops.
  • Missile Pod: The Tau answer to the Autocannon. Great for popping light to medium vehicles and insta-gibbing T3 guys. In other words; eats up Guardsmen, Eldar, Gaunts, Dark Eldar, and Cultists for breakfast. Despite what Dawn of War tells you, it's not terribly good for vehicle killing; you have other weapons (Fusion Blasters) if you really need to hate on vehicles. It has the distinction of being the longest range standard-issue weapon available to Crisis suits, which makes it ideal for a Crisis team intended to dance around the battlefield and harass the enemy while using its jetpack to remain just out of their range to effectively retaliate.
  • Plasma Rifle: Lower Strength than the Imperial version, but doesn't Get Hot. Peerless for popping heavy infantry so it's great against Ogryn, Karskin/Stormtroopers, Grey Knights, Sisters of Battle, Spess Mehreens, Kay-oss Spess Mehreens, Tyranid Warriors, and Necrons. Really good for sniping Tyranid Synapse creatures, so jump a crisis team to a hive tyrant, blast him to bits, jump away; shoot some warriors and zoanthropes dead and watch the entire tyranid army collapse (if you aren't satisfied with the countless other ways the Tau can ruin the bugs' day). Decried as cheese by some, it is both the most expensive standard Crisis suit weapon and the most popular with good reason.
  • A good setup is Multitracker + 2 weapons, as you can't fire both unless you have the Multitracker. A Shield Generator or Shield Drones are always good.

This is extremely important!! Tau Crisis suits are T4, which means they suffer heavily from rocket sniping. If you value your suits, take at least two shield drones on the Shas'Vre to absorb the inevitable St8 AP3 shot. Everything in the damn game has some version of a "fuck your crisis suit" weapon, be prepared.

• Stealth Suits: A safe, decent choice, but Crisis Suits are better in most regards. These guys can always Infiltrate or Outflank, and their stealth fields offer SOME protection by potentially limiting the range that the enemy can fire at them (ah-la the Night Fighting rules even in broad daylight or half that in an actual Night Fighting scenario.) Plenty of burst cannons and the opportunity for a fusion gun, but at T3 and mediocre BS without targeting arrays, there are better choices, although a team won't exactly cost you the game. Great for fucking up the shit of Guardsmen, Orks, etc. If you do use them, use them wisely.

Fast Attack

• Gun Drone Squad: Gun Drone Squads are generally inefficient. Whilst they have pretty good firepower and are pinning weapons, they have lower accuracy (offset slightly by sheer volume of shots due to twin-linked status) (Actually, less accurate than what? A gun drone with BS2 TL has a 5/9 chance to hit, slightly better than a Fire Warrior's 1/2), cannot score, and cost more. The advantages they have are that Drones count as Jump Infantry and thus can be used as distractions or part of the jump-shoot-jump tactic. In general, you are almost invariably better off with Fire Warriors or even Kroot.

• Vespid Stingwings: It's like all the crap in the codex was put here. These guys have a gun meant to make spess mehreens, kay-oss spess mehreens, and necrons go away, but at such a short range, and low armor save, you're going to get shot to shit in the ensuing firefight and any Necrons you kill will just get back up. Do not take Vespids.

• Pathfinders: One of two good sources for markerlights, and very cost-effective for the number of markerlights you get. These guys put out a large amount of markerlight support every turn, useful for your other guys. Their devilfish allows deep strikers within line of sight to reroll the scatter dice, good in case you just nuked your deep-striking death star with a mishap. They are also scouts, quite useful to outflank or get into position. Camp these guys in cover somewhere safe, and give their devilfish to someone else to use, thus saving you points on another devilfish. They can take rail rifles, but never do this, because then you can't markerlight. A unit of pathfinders can't go wrong.

• Tetras (Forgeworld Only): Where Pathfinders are the cudgel of markerlights, these guys are the scalpel. They zip in as fast vehicles, drop an accurate markerlight, and zoom away. They have a free disruption pod to help survivability, but low armor and open-top means that every shot could be their last. Keep them safe, and they will benefit you immensely. Now with the update out, their markerlights are much better. Throw on the targeting array and you'll have two guaranteed hits. Combine them with piranhas or hammerheads for major lulz. Edit: their markerlights are now heavy 4 OMG! Disruption pod no longer included, but so what? Pay the five points, and enjoy your unit of four tetras put out 16 markerlight shots a turn, potentially at BS4, potentially at multiple targets. Nothing quite like being able to put enough markerlight tokens on a SPESS MAHREN unit that you can force it to auto-fail a leadership check. Not bad for 200 - 220 points for a full unit.

• Piranha: There are two versions of the Piranha
  • Generic: Burst cannons basic, can be upgraded with fusion blasters. Low armor means they are fragile, but as fast vehicles they can block paths and provide anti-infantry / anti-armor harassment.
  • TX-42 (Forgeworld Only): Heavier, with more armor and no open-top, but with a higher cost. These start with twin-linked fusion blasters which lets them put some serious hurt on tanks, but can be upgraded with missiles pods, plasma, or rail rifles. These guys can go hunting for different enemies dependent on loadout, though a crisis team may be better in regards of JSJ.

• XV-9 Hazard Team (Forgeworld Only): God's Second Gift To Tau. These bruisers contain experimental weaponry on a high toughness frame with vectored retro-thrusters to run away. The downside is that greatness is expensive, and you will feel it. But they look really, really fucking awesome and they make vehicle light armies (dark eldar, tyranids, orks, and chaos daemons) weep. Their weapons include:
  • Burst Cannons: Four on one suit means two twin-linked sets. There are better options. If you seriously pick this you have some sort of weird gatling fetish. Not entirely true. when you are short on points, or dealing with MEQ/small unit size armies, this weapon begins to surpass the Pulse Submunition Rifle in effectiveness, so long as you have markerlights backing it up. It is still useful, but this option should be a points consideration more then a tactical choice.
  • Phased Ion Gun: The phaser is Baby's First Assault Cannon but without the gatling barrel arrangement, with lower strength but decent AP and rending. This is also the only place aside from Shas'O'Ra'ali and the greater Knarloc's, that the tau can gain access to rending.
  • Fusion Cascade: The Fusion Cascade is the go-to weapon for heavy infantry hunting. A melta weapon with lower strength but multiple shots, these can decimate spess mehreens and light vehicles alike. And best of all, it's not plasma, so you can tell Matt Ward and his plasma siphon to stuff it, which is great because it's one of your best ways to eliminate a threat that would otherwise render three quarters of your weaponry unable to shoot for shit.
  • Pulse Submunition Rifle: The shotgun is an excellent anti-horde weapon that ignores cover, with good strength but low AP.

Something interesting to realize is the XV-9 is not denied its jump move after deep striking, unlike the XV-8, which lets you fuck up something's shit then get the fuck out of there before they can shoot back.

• While it may seem this unit is the "patch that saved the Tau Codex," it is rumored that they were designed by a wily forgeworld modeler wanting to 'make something cool for the tau'. If this is true, it was by far less design and more "i am bored" that the Tau army was saved.

• Knarloc Riders (Forgeworld Only): I want to like these guys, I really do, because come on, they're freaking birdmen riding god-fucking-damned dinosaurs! But they suck. Cavalry that can only be taken if Kroot Carnivores are taken, without good close combat ability besides fleet, and the chance you cannot overrun the enemy thanks to eating the dead makes for a substandard cavalry unit, and possibly the worst in the game.

Heavy Support

• Hammerhead: God's Third Gift To Tau. The railgun is your best friend. It is mounted on a durable chassis with great BS. With disruption pods, you get a 4+ cover save, making the Hammerhead even harder to kill. It is also highly advised to take a multitracker, allowing you to move and still fire the main weapon. Take one. Hell, take two. With its ability to make vehicles its bitch with its bullet-mode, and its ability to mincemeat infantry with its large blast shotgun-mode, a hammerhead will NEVER disappoint...provided you take the railgun option. Its options are as follows:
  • Railgun: Yes. Standard mode is a S10 AP1 (it will knock out vehicles on a 4+ if it penetrates, opened-topped go out on a 3+, and can still destroy them even if it glances), and has anti-infantry with a S6 AP4 blast template
  • Ion Cannon: An autocannon with another shot and better AP. It's still no railgun, but might juuuuuuuuuuust barely be worth it in a low-point match against MEQs, assuming you have other sources of railguns. Scares the piss out of monstrous creatures.
  • Long-Barreled Burst Cannons (Forgeworld Only): ...why would you do that? Since the update hit, it's now become "Baby's first flak cannon" with more shots, but weaker strength, shorter range and no AA fun.
  • Missile Pods (Forgeworld Only): Cheaper on Crisis Suits, but now have blast goodness (holy shit, about time).
  • Fusion Cannon (Forgeworld Only): Multi-Melta, Railgun is better. The only redeeming quality of this option is that it is cheap, and it is small blast. Of all the forgeworld options, this one is the best. Still does multi melta in the update, but down to a single shot. Unless you're desperate and have points to waste, don't bother.
  • Plasma Cannon (Forgeworld Only): Not worth it. Your crisis suits should be doing this. Now can do twinlinked quad shots. Can turn those monstrous creatures to goo if they get too close. And it's as cheap as an ion cannon.

• Broadside Battlesuits: God's Fourth Gift to Tau. I like Railguns. You like Railguns. We all like Railguns. These guys deliver. Point at vehicle, remove vehicle. One can take up to three Broadsides in a unit for a whopping six rail guns (three twin-linked) and smart missiles which spell instantaneous death for pretty much anything they shoot at short of a Titan, Bio-titan, Manta/Tigershark, or Stompa or a superheavy tank with a lot of luck, and additionally upgrade one Suit to a Team Leader. That said, an iconic setup is to take a squad of three, grant them Advanced Stabilization Systems (the extra movement is always nice, be it for getting the right angles off, evading close combat, or not being screwed over by Dawn of War), and upgrade the Team Leader to have a Hard-Wired Drone Controller with Shield Drones, and Hard-Wired Target Lock (thus allowing the unit to threaten two separate vehicles). Another decent setup is one team leader with hardwired drone controller, and the others with target locks. While dependent on cover, this group can threaten multiple vehicles at once.

• Sniper Team: With S6, AP3, a decent range, and pinning, Sniper Teams, in theory, can be useful, and they are positively devastating to Space Marines, Chaos Marines, Necrons, and Tyranids. There's two problems with them however: First of all is that if their leader dies, the drones go down as well, and second is that they take up a Heavy Support choice that is usually better-filled with something else. Decent board denial for the points, but really situational and generally not worth it due to their poor survivability.

• Skyray Missile Gunship: A mixed bag. Not a horrible choice by any stretch - but it takes up all-too-limited Heavy Support slots that are almost invariably better filled by Broadsides or Hammerheads. The fact that it can launch highly-accurate Seeker Missiles - which are functionally Hunter-Killer Missiles - and the fact that it boasts Markerlights as well makes it a good support unit, even more so when it packs on other weapons (such as Smart Missiles) for ranged support. It also has decent armor. The problem is that its limited ammo means that once the Seeker Missiles are out, it turns into a magic flying brick for dropping markerlights and firing off whatever its secondary weapon is (usually Smart Missiles, but it can pack Burst Cannons or Gun Drones instead). This means that it's kind of schizophrenic; you want it at extreme-range to employ its markerlight-provided range, but you can't really afford to do so because it can't use its secondary weapons unless it gets somewhat closer. The cruelest cut, again, is that it takes the same slot as other, much more devastating support options - the Broadside Team and Hammerhead - and a kitted out Skyray costs just as much as a Hammerhead. If you do intend to use one (and it's a hard choice to justify), it's recommended to keep it armed with Smart Missiles and use it as a close-support unit; its armor is thick enough to not suffer for the change of pace. If this goddamned thing was a fast attack choice, it would be infinitely superior than it is now.

• Knarlocs (Forgeworld Only): Oh God why have you forsaken me.
  • Goaded Knarlocs: Rending and fleet, okay. Eats its babysitters and has a chance to go full retard? Not looking good. No railgun? Fuck this guy. And it might break its own morale and flee the board because it just ate its own last Goad.
  • Mounted Knarlocs: They can score, and have rending and fleet, but they have terrible weapon options and are such a large target with such low armor they will die before doing anything. Ignore this guy. After update, they have been changed to monstrous creatures, so their rending is now a power weapon. Slight improvement to gun stats/cost and as MC's they're relentless. While better, still cost too much and take a heavy slot which ought to be railguns.

• Drone Turrets (Forgeworld Only): Immobile with battlesuit weapons, terrible armor, and immobility? Pass.

• Heavy Gun Drones (Forgeworld Only): They're Gun Drone Squads, if slightly more accurate - yet somehow made worse courtesy of them devouring a Heavy Support choice. You don't want to waste one of these all-too-valuable slots on twin-linked fucking burst cannons when your army has dozens of ways to get these onto the table. Their airmobility and markerlight options are still not worth it. Avoid.

Forgeworld

• Manta: The bastard child of a Thunderhawk and a Titan, this small spaceship is just as capable an attack craft as it is a heavy transport. This thing carries an absolutely goofy number of guns and can spew out a retarded amount of dice. Sixteen Long-barreled Burst Cannons (twice as many shots since the update), Six Long-barreled Ion Cannons, a twin-linked Heavy Railgun (a pair of them as of the update) (destroyer weapon and AP1 like a standard railgun in slug-mode, so it auto-penetrates/wounds and destroys vehicles on 3+ [2+, it is a primary weapon, AP1 and destroyer (are you forgetting ordnance?)], not to mention the submunition mode that throws out large blasts with the strength and AP values of an Ion Cannon, and deviate less than usual by virtue of being drone-controlled), Missile Pods, a Seeker Missile Battery, and a Markerlight turret ensure that anything it's shooting at will not live to see the next turn. And there's the little benefit that for a Titan equivalent, it's damned fast. Oh, and it can carry a metric fuckton of Tau; 48 Fire Warriors, 8 battlesuits, 2 Devilfish, 2 Hammerheads, 6 Gun Drones, and 1 Ethereal (but who cares about him?). Just one of these can damned near carry an entire normal 40k game's worth of Tau ground units! Unfortunately, for the price of the Manta model, you could just as easily buy a decent used car. (PROTIP: Buy a Smart Car, paint it ochre, and use it as both a vehicle and a proxy. Or proxy it with your converted army case.) If you can afford one and don't know how to use it, try asking either your butler or the two burly Armenians who just came over to break both your legs. One other drawback: unlike other flying vehicles in Apocalypse, ground attackers without AA or pintle mounts use their normal BS rather than needing a 6 to hit because of how fuck-huge it is (blasts and templates still can't fire at Manta, unless AA, and needless to say, all titan-weapons are blasts). Though it does have a 4+ invul save due to its energy shield, remember an enemy doesn't need to deplete its structure points to destroy it like a ground-based super-heavy vehicle. If its immobilized for any reason, it's automatically destroyed, like any other super-heavy flyer.

• Tiger Shark: Your bomber equivalent. This thing can shit out fourteen gun drones and carries an impressive armament of two Ion Cannons, two Missile Pods, and two Burst Cannons, making it the death of anything without a 2+ armour save/a lucky invulnerable save/Land Raider-equivalent armour (especially since flyers always hit the side armour of ground vehicles!).
  • AX-1-0: A version of the Tiger Shark meant to really bring the hate to super-heavy vehicles, swapping out drone racks and ion cannons for twin-linked Heavy Railguns. Put on a trollface as your opponent realizes just how terrifying Railguns are on a flyer platform (answer? Very, especially since the ones on this Tiger Shark variant are just as capable as those on a Manta).
    • As a fluff note, the AX-1-0 was originally made as a counter to Imperial Titans. Titans take decades and lots of resources to build, while the AX-1-0 uses existing parts from the Tiger Shark with weapons normally installed on Mantas, thereby minimizing fabrication time and material cost, giving the Tau an extremely cost-effective anti-titan punch. You know that the Earth Caste engineering team that came up with it said, "Problem, Magos?" Few things are more satisfying than watching the look on your enemy's face when you blow up his Reaver Titan or Heirophant with a fraction of its cost in AX-1-0s, that go on to tear his other super-heavies a new one.
  • AX-2-2: A rather weird unit that carries two Remora Stealth Drone fighters that have two long barrelled burst cannons and seeker missiles.

• Barracuda: A pants-wettingly terrifying air superiority fighter that packs raw, balls-out, firepower in a maneuverable package. Armed with two Burst Cannons, an Ion Cannon, and Missile Pods, this thing is capable of taking down pretty much any flyer, and what's more? It can carry Seeker Missiles too.

• Remora Drone Stealth Fighter: Essentially a souped-up, more accurate, flying Heavy Gun Drone with twin-linked Burst Cannons, stealth ability, networked Markerlight and two Seeker Missiles. While hard to spot and hit (by virtue of acting as a fast skimmer/flyer depending on your play mode and its stealth generator), its weaponry can be had elsewhere for much cheaper, and to make things worse, none of the Remora's weapons come with AA mounts, so it is more or less restricted to attacking ground targets.

• Orca Dropship: If you have the money and points to afford a Manta (lucky you!), don't bother with this one. While still a super-heavy flyer, its transport capacity is only a quarter of the Manta's (it can't even carry vehicles), and it is only lightly armed with Seeker Missiles, a Missile Pod and a twin-linked Burst Cannon turret. Needless to say, the Orca dropship doesn't do any justice to its namesake (which is an apex marine predator in real life). On a side note, this dropship first appeared in the lackluster Fire Warrior 40k FPS.

Tau Armoury

There are a few notes on selecting equipment for a Tau army. First of all, certain items are available for different unit types (infantry, battlesuits, and vehicles) and may have different effects depending on which unit type it is equipped on. Another thing is that many of these things can come in "hard-wired" varieties. These are versions of the items which are either cybernetic in the user, or directly integrated into their equipment (such as a battlesuit with a system built into its chassis instead of attached to a hardpoint.) Only squad leaders and higher level characters get access to hard-wired items, but they cost the same as regular versions, they do not count against a limit as to how much gear the model can carry (such as how many hard point slots are available on a battlesuit) and the player is NOT required to model them to be considered WYSIWYG compliant.

• Advanced stabilization system (battlesuit): Occupies a hard point slot on a battlesuit, allows that battlesuit to use the Slow and Purposeful special rule, and if any model in a squadron takes this then all the models in that squadron must take it. This is only of any practical use on Broadside battlesuits, as no other battlesuits use heavy weapons. It is a good choice, as it offsets the major disadvantages that Broadsides have, being their immobility, allowing them to continually displace while keeping up their pressure. However, they are not hard-wired, and no bits exist to represent them, so expect to do a little modeling if you want them included. A couple of drone shells put together with plasticard to fill the space makes a great looking housing for it.
• Blacksun filter (battlesuit, infantry, vehicle, hard-wired): Tau nightvision. Doubles the distance rolled to determine firing distance during a night fighting scenario. Essential in that scenario, useless in all others. Still, if you do not know what kind of scenario you are going into, it might be worth it to take along. At only three points per model and being hard-wired, you can afford to at least give one to each team leader. Unlike similar options for other armies (Read: Searchlights), does not illuminate the unit using it.
• Command and control node (battlesuit): Allows units within 12" to use the owner's leadership to take target priority tests. Unfortunately, since target priority tests are no longer part of the game, this is now completely useless.
• Decoy launchers (vehicle): Essentially a kind of combination flare and chaff type countermeasure, these launch little mini decoy drones that attract homing munitions and confuse targeters trying to lock onto the vehicle's large and inviting outboard engines. It causes any "Vehicle Immobilized" roll to get re-rolled. These were essential when they were introduced, as immobilized skimmers were instantly destroyed, so any other roll was preferable, but edition updates since then mean that immobilized skimmers are no longer destroyed and the re-roll might in fact give a worse result than it used to when glancing and penetrating hits were separate tables. Since then, this has actually become an active liability to Tau forces.
• Disruption pod (vehicle): One of God's lesser gifts to Tau. Basically a multipurpose ECM suite, this confuses the fuck out of enemy electronic targeting systems, causing any vehicle equipped with one to be considered concealed, even if it is wide in the open. And the rule for targeting concealed vehicles means that such vehicle is granted a 4+ invulnerable save against everything. Tau armor is not necessarily weak, but it is hardly the toughest either, and this will greatly extend any given vehicle's life expectancy on the battlefield.
• Drone controller (battlesuit, infantry, hard-wired): Allows a unit to control a pair of drones. This is actually the only piece of equipment in the Tau armoury that is completely free, at a cost of zero points. However, the true cost of this will depend on what drones will accompany the user:
  • Gun Drones: The cheapest drones available, and since their plastic sprues come with everything Tau, so any Tau player is likely to have the models for them. They provide a little extra short-range dakka that can potentially pin foes, and can absorb a few hits. They shoot like Orks, but their twin-linked weapons mitigate that well. No real downside to these, and not bad for the points.
  • Shield Drones: Half again more expensive than gun drones, and lacking in any offensive capability, they instead have shield generators giving them a 4+ invulnerable save. They exist purely to have wounds allocated to them. Great for putting on Crisis suits to absorb the anti-armor fire Crisis suits are sure to attract, but beware a canny foe who can blast them all down with enough small-arms fire before going for the big stuff. Less useful on Fire Warrior squads who are less likely to attract the kind of fire that makes invulnerable saves necessary.
  • Marker Drones: Twice as expensive as shield drones, you will have to think very carefully about where to include them. Their abysmal drone accuracy is offset by a built-in targeting array, upping their effective ballistic skill to three, and they have a networked markerlight. Unlike a regular markerlight, the networked version can be used to benefit the squad that the firing model is part of. Thus, the drone can fire the markerlight, get a hit, and then the unit controlling the drone can fire and use that markerlight hit to its own advantage. Remember though that drones are considered to be the same unit type as the unit they are attached to, and since a markerlight (networked or otherwise) is considered a heavy weapon, that means that marker drones attached to infantry squadrons will have to stop before they can fire, while ones attached to jet pack squadrons will be able to fire on the go. Risky to put on Crisis suits, limited application on Fire Warrior squads, a good place for them is in Stealthsuit teams, where they can fire on the move and benefit from the Stealthsuit's active camouflage. Each suit can take a drone controller and two of these, potentially giving you an infiltrating unit with a huge number of markerlights that can jump-shoot-jump and that the enemy will have a hard time shooting back at assuming it fires at the extent of the markerlight's range. This will be one of the more expensive ways to get markerlights though, so be prepare to triple (and I mean that literally) the cost of the Stealthsuit team if you fully pack it out with marker drones.
• Ejection system (battlesuit): Independent characters and single-member squadrons only. This allows a battlesuit model killed by means other than Instant Death to survive, minus the battlesuit. They are pretty useless by this point, but if you can keep them away from they enemy then they do not count as "killed" and the enemy gets no points for doing so. Not so tactically sound, but great for "cheating" your foe out of the kill of a high-point character.
• Failsafe detonator (battlesuit): A "final fuck-you" to any foe who charges a squad that has this. If (haha, "if", I crack me up!) when a squad with a model that has this loses a close combat round, the suit with the failsafe detonator stays behind in a close combat while the rest of the squad falls back as normal. The suit with the failsafe then says "Problem?" and blows himself and his suit sky high, taking everything under a large blast marker with him. It is supposed to be a last resort thing, but what you are essentially doing is turning your battlesuits into very expensive suicide bombers. Still, makes them good for high-risk, "in-your-face" kinds of offensive maneuvers where their odds of coming back alive were not good to begin with. They enemy is fucked if they let them go, and fucked if they rush them.
• Flechette discharger (vehicle): Who say's Tau have no mind for close combat? When an enemy tries to hit a vehicle with these in close combat, they get a bunch of high velocity spikes jammed in their faces before their hits are resolved. Wounds on a 4+, saves allowed, this would actually be pretty sweet, if most Tau vehicles were not supposed to get close enough to the enemy that this would actually matter. The enemies of the Tau better pray that they Tau never start installing this system on battlesuits, otherwise they would be goddamn unstoppable.
• Iridium armor plates (battlesuit): A tradeoff for Crisis suits, upping their armor save from 3+ to 2+, but reducing their jetpack move in the assault phase from 6" to D6". Special issue, so only one per army. Might be worthwhile to put on a commander you want to use as a "lure" and bait the enemy into trying to kill them.
• Multitracker
  • (battlesuit): Another one of God's lesser gifts to Tau, this lets a Tau battlesuit fire two weapon systems in one turn. Thus, potentially doubling its output of fire. Since battlesuits are so few in number, but tend to be the linchpin of a lot of Tau strategy, it helps to make sure each battlesuit is pulling as much weight in volume of fire as possible. Understandably, this is a very popular choice for Crisis suits. Pack it on with plasma guns and missile pods and watch MEQs weep.
  • (vehicle): Very different than the battlesuit variety, but still very useful, the vehicle version of the multi-tracker lets a vehicle fire as though it were fast. This might not sound too useful, but keep in mind that Tau tanks are some of the only skimmers in the game which are not also fast vehicles. This helps offset that a great deal. They might never have the top speed of an Eldar tank, but they will be able to move 12" per turn and still fire their primary weapon as they go. When your primary weapon is a 72" S:10 railgun, that firing mobility is a pretty damn awesome thing to have.
  • (infantry?): Possibly as the result of an error, the multi-tracker is listed as having a hard-wired version available to infantry, but the Tau Codex has no description for how an infantry multi-tracker would even work. Intuition would suggest it would allow a model so equipped to fire two weapons per turn, but few infantry even have two weapons. Maybe if they had a markerlight and a pulse weapon, but there are few situations outside of that where it would even be applicable.
• Positional relay (battlesuit): When you have units in reserve, this allows you to bring one unit out on a 2+, but only one unit can be summoned this way per turn (and only from the second turn onward.) Works well if you need to deep strike or outflank a foe, and you want to mitigate some of the randomness of it, but only when you have a few reserves, not when you have many. Combine this with the marker beacon of a Pathfinder squad's Devilfish for pin-point aerial insertions, exactly when and where you want them.
• Seeker missiles (vehicle): Essentially similar to Imperial Hunter-killer missiles, seeker missiles exist to give a bit of extra expendable anti-vehicle "oomph" to Tau forces. Unlike hunter-killers though, they may only be launched by a markerlight hit, so it only pays to have these if you have a few markerlights. A Fire Warrior squad leader with one is a good example, so that the squad can call in extra fire support if their enemy decides to try and run them down with a Metal Box. Fortunately, once the markerlight has acquired a target, the seeker missile hits on a 2+, almost guaranteeing that the points will be well spent. Consider mounting a couple on the inevitable Devilfish transports for your infantry.
• Sensor spines (vehicle): Allows a vehicle to pass through a terrain feature rather than float above it as usual for a skimmer, but (thanks to elaborate terrain sensors and corrective A.I. auto-pilot) ignores the dangerous terrain test that would normally characterize such a maneuver. However, the primary reason for doing so is to gain concealment, concealment which the disruption pod already grants in any terrain or none. Unless a board is particularly dense with dangerous terrain, this might not be such a good investment of points.
• Shield generator (battlesuit): Gives a unit 4+ invulnerable save. Great if you expect your battlesuits to be taking lots of anti-tank fire (which they inevitably will.) Debatable as to how much of an advantage this is over expendable shield drones though, as a single shield drone adds another model with that save to take the hit for five points less. On the other hand, once that model is inevitably shot down but the volume of fire the enemy will commit to swatting down your battlesuits, it has only its own save to fall back on.
• Stimulent injector (battlesuit): Grants a model "Feel No Pain" special rule. Only one per army. Again, a good item for a character or single-model unit who wants to bait the enemy into killing them, but not all that necessary outside of that strategy.
• Target lock (battlesuit, infantry, hard-wired): Another very useful bit of utility. It allows a carrying model part of a squad to fire at a target other than the rest of the squad. For example, a Fire Warrior team leader with a markerlight could use it to focus on marking vehicles for heavier units while the rest of their squad focus on shooting the oncoming infantry. Or an "odd man out" equipped Crisis suit could use its different equipment to deal with a different threat than the rest of the squad is fighting, such as having one member with fusion blasters for taking out vehicles while the rest of the squad keeps infantry at bay. Since this comes in a hired-wired option, it makes it ideal for the team-leader to be equipped with the special gear you need targeted elsewhere, since they will not have to sacrifice slots to have this.
• Targeting array (battlesuit, vehicle): Simple targeter, gives +1 to BS up to a maximum of 5. More BS is always useful, but the Tau have other ways of getting this, like markerlights, so how much value you get from this will vary depending on your army's composition.
• Vectored retro-thrusters (battlesuit): Only one per army, but allows a unit equipped with this to use the "Hit And Run" special rule. Not that Tau should actually be putting themselves in close combat, but the ability to get out of close combat really quickly should have obvious appeal. Pity you cannot equip an entire squad with it, unless you are going for Hazard armor.

Building Your Army

My recommendation is to:

• Start with a Crisis Commander
• Mount all Fire Warriors in Devilfish. Fish of Fury may be dead, but your Fire Warriors still need the survivability.
• Railguns, Railguns, Railguns. Railguns are still the kings of popping vehicles in normal 40k and are more points effective than most apocalypse options and are far more available.
• Battlesuits are great. You want battlesuits.(but not to the point you flood the WHOLE DAMN TABLE with them by playing Commander Farsight)
• Without eating up space for your railguns, MARKERLIGHTS. You love them, take them.

Helpful Hints and Fun Strategies

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 stabilsation systems. Another good choice is a unit of piranas 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 Etheral and place everything else in transports, then execute the little fucker. Your soldiers will automaticaly pass the test and will be pissed as hell for having their head honcho spread evenly over their entire deployment zone. And things were never the same 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.

Just look at that grin on his face. An epic troll.

Kroot Konga 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.

Wise Words of Wisdom

There is only one competitive Tau build: Mass Vespid. Your opponent will be confused and will explode in fright when you start dropping squads of Vespid on the table.

When modeling Tau, it is advised to use glitter powder and faux gemstones on your models. This confuses your opponents, allowing you the tactical high ground.

Take an Aun'Va suicide squad to get preferred enemy against everybody!