Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Tau (section)

===Fortifications===
More general tactics in using fortifications are [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Fortifications(7E)|here]]. These are notes specific to Tau common playstyles:  

* '''Aegis Defense Line:'''  Can be useful or useless, depending on how you plan to use it. The anti-air emplacements are much less useful to you than most other armies, since you have so much AA already, though it's your only viable anti-air interceptor. That being said, it's still a nice piece of cover for your Fire Warrior gunline and dispoded tanks to cower behind and because you control where it goes it is cover your fire warriors will always have. If you're running a highly-mobile force, you'll probably find an ADL less than useless. If you're going to commander-bomb the enemy, for 20 points more, the comms relay will allow you to reroll reserve results, which might save your entire game. Something else to consider - park you riptide on your fire warrior firing line next to an ammunition dump.  Have fun rerolling those ones that otherwise might kill you!

* '''Vengeance Weapon Battery:''' If you don't like taking a risk that might end up blowing your tank up with poor rolling, or you just like a sturdy Battle Cannon mounted on a reliable AV14 building chassis, then the Vengeance weapon battery is your go-to fortifications. It's cheap, it's hardy, and it can take either a Punisher Gatling Cannon (20 shots FTW) or it can be armed with a fearsome battle cannon for +10 points, adding another large blast ap3 weapon on your side that doesn't suffer much from the disappointing bs2 the Weapon battery is cursed with due to being a blast weapon. All in all, if you need a little extra kick, the VWB is hard to disappoint.

* '''Skyshield Landing Pad:''' Very big and you can probably fit your entire army on top of it. The 4++ it gives units on top (when the sides are up) means you can put your fire warriors and broadsides up there and not have to worry about things that ignore cover *cough*deathstrike missiles*cough*. When the sides are down, you can deep strike units onto it without them scattering - sort of useless given that if you are deep striking you are probably trying to insert a commander bomb behind an enemy tank, In which case you would have Farsight.

* '''Plasma Obliterator:''' Think of this as Ethereal-approved static artillery and being Massive Blast really useful for preventing overrun by hordes or MSUs. Expensive though.

* '''Imperial Bastion:''' It's big. It has 4 heavy bolters but you cannot really fit much at the top, and even less so when you add a gun emplacement. A decent crows nest for a sniper drone team or rail/ion rifle pathfinder team, but past that, it's an expensive piece of cover.

* '''Fortress of Redemption:''' Expensive, expensive, expensive. But like the rest of your army, the range of the weapons is crazy high. (96" missiles). You can also give it a gun with both skyfire and interceptor, but your Broadsides and Riptides should be taking care of that. The building only has one entrance, so be careful about getting it blown apart. On the other hand, it'll give some trouble to your enemies trying to pull you into an assault. You're also going to need about 300 points freed up just bring in a fully kitted out FoR. Imagine the Battle for Helm's Deep, and you're not too far off.

* '''Void Shield Generator:''' Let me break it down for you - you have broadsides. Wouldn't it be nice to stick them behind a nice, thick slab of AV12 from which they can still shoot out? 50pts. Scratch-build your own Tau-ish looking one. Troll the world, drink neckbeard tears.

* '''Vortex Missile Aquila Strongpoint:''' More useful in Farsight full-suit army as vortex blast is not really an issue with your mobility, and you're Tau, don't ever think about getting into melee/being less than 6" away from enemies.

* '''Macro-Cannon Aquila Strongpoint: ''' The almighty D although not as sorely needed for Tau is always welcome (especially being in blast form, luxury in Tau army), and perfect as Kauyon bait. Do consider if you're going against Wraithwall armies.

*'''Tidewall:''' Brand new cheese for 7E, Three Tau component fortifications of your very own. Mostly defence line, it mostly can't be exploded and gives 4+ cover. '''And it moves... ''' It can't move at all if an enemy (''read:'' any non-Tau model, so keep your Eldar buddies off) is within 1" and it can't cross terrain, so watch out for enemies that bring their own. Also, it only moves during the Movement Phase at a sluggish 6", preempting the movement of the units manning the walls. Tau Units on any Tidewall count as stationary for shooting, regardless of whether or not the goddamned floor underneath them advances, and also get to reroll 1s on to-hit. Tidewall segments can be taken separately, attached as-you-like, or in specific arrangements with extra benefits. The attached and arranged versions need to stay lockstepped and are moved all at once.  And because no Tau macroformations have a fortification slot, you need a detachment to take any Tidewalls. Also, surprise, some of the rules are standard Games fucking Workshop writing in that they leave some big fucking questions unanswered.
*'''Tidewall Shieldlines:''' Like an Aegis Line section, only better, in that any successful Cover save bounces back the shot on a 6, with an auto-wound/glance at the same AP. The whole "bounce back hits" is horribly worded, as if a Land Raider fires his heavy bolters and you roll a 6 THE LAND RAIDER TAKES A GLANCING HIT FROM A FUCKING HEAVY BOLTER. Because the Tidewall Field rule doesn't specify friendly or enemy models, shooting at an enemy within 1" risks bounce-back. A Shieldline is technically one shiny blue wall but it comes with a blank disc. Though maybe you don't have to use the blank disc, and the wall can apparently be legally attached to another shieldline's disc, attached to another Tidewall energy field with no discs involved, or a gunrig, or a drone port, or nothing. Ditch it and slim your mobile profile, or take it to stack more minis on free to-hit rerolls and stationary advancing.
*'''Tidewall Gunrigs:''' Come with a password-protected, twin-linked, Hammerhead-grade Railgun with all the fixins. The gun is technically an emplacement, which makes it the only destroyable part of the Tidewall. Only Tau models can shoot it, so even if the thing gets taken from you, they can't turn it against you. You could throw Darkstrider on, use his ability to lower T6 units to T5, and ID them with the S10 gun. 
*'''Tidewall Droneports:''' *A disc which gives you 4 drones of any combination that your basic infantry could take, for 60 points. Which is a damned fine deal. You just need one Tau model on it to activate the drones, which then behave like fucking drones.
*'''Tidewall Rampart:''' Consists of 2 (or more) Tidewall Shieldlines, 1-2 Tidewall Gunrigs, and 1-2 Tidewall Droneports. This arrangement comes with some nasty abilities and 2 serious drawbacks. 
**''First the good:'' All of the basic Tidewall shit stays in play. However, models on Droneports or Gunrigs benefit from (or are penalized by) a Shieldline's reflective field if a Shieldline is between the section and an attacker. With proper placement, a model can technically benefit from both bounceback rules, so a single saved shot from a hurricane bolter can potentially glance its own Land Raider twice. If any one model on the Droneport (I nominate a Shield Drone) forgoes shooting, you can give your Railgun emplacements (or bigger stuff if you have Missilesides or the Stormsurge, etc. parked on the Gunrig) +1 BS, Monster Hunter, and Tank Hunter for the Phase (slightly more reason not to charge this thing, especially with Fexes or Dreads). It only counts as a single terrain piece. 
**''Now the bad:'' Although they benefit from the special rules of the other Rampart sections, the Railguns and the Drones are vulnerable to enemy Shooting, particularly if the enemy has a lot of high strength (ideally 8+, but even a Heavy Flamer would cause problems), Ignore Cover weaponry, as would any unit camping out there. Also, if your opponent tasks a serious assault unit with taking it, you best float away, because those Tidewall Fields won't help much. 
**''Bottom Line:'' Like the Void Shield Generator, and its upgrade, the Void Relay Network, the Tidewall works best when properly deployed and kept as far away from the enemy as possible. 
*'''Tidewall Gunfort:''' Slap three Gunrigs together within 6" of each other.  If someone fires from one gunrig, he can make every railgun fire at the user's BS.  If they use Submunitions, the shot gains +1 Strength, and if there's Solid Ammo, it gains Armourbane. Again, Darkstrider.
*'''Tidwall Defense Network:''' 4 Gunlines form a square around either a Gunrig or a Droneport.  All Tau inside it gain Stubborn and can activate the Gunrig/Dronefort attached to it.  Bring this, and accept that nobody will ever kill you and thus hate you to death (except for Noise Marines, Vraksian Renegades, Hellhammers, LR Eradicators, etc.).

* '''Primus Redoubt:''' The hugest fortifications with AV15, however expensive as balls and may not suit your playstyle (especially crisiswing). Nobody sane will assault properly entrenched Tau army inside, what with supporting fire and spotter units you can put above.

* '''Remote Sensor Towers (Forge World):''' After being noticed for the bad-ass auto-take it was, Forge World majorly nerfed it. It's now 'Battlefield Debris' with BS2, T6, W2, and a 4+ save, it has a twin-linked markerlight, and allows '(...)a singe friendly unit selected from Codex: Tau Empire that is within 2" of any sensor tower in the unit may re-roll all failed To Hit rolls of a 1 and gain the Night Vision special rule...' Sadly, it's no longer an auto-take, but may get some use to help with a Riptide to stop it from killing itself. Then again any other fortification piece can take much cheaper ammunition dump upgrade which does exactly the same thing.(<i>They still offer some unique hilarity. Attach Shadowsun to them and have them go to ground every round for a 2+ cover save. Shadowsun being able to give stealth+shrouded to a sensor tower that is 20" away from her is amazing.</i>)