Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Tau (section)

==== Troops ====
The Tau {{W40kKeyword|[[Fire_Warrior|Fire Warriors]]}} are okay at shooting, with BS4+ but very good guns, and bad at melee with S3 WS5+ 1A. Their Shas'Ui sarge can get a markerlight, and the squad can get up to two drones, but besides the Tactical ones they also have two exclusive options:
*'''Guardian drone''': Tactical drone stats with a 4++ (but only 1W). This drone no longer shares its invuln with the warriors themselves, but it saves the unit it is attached to from being wounded on a 2 by ranged attacks. This helps against those pesky S6 shots.
**For a bit more, a shield drone has twice the wounds and takes wounds instead of the warriors. It doesn't help against S6 shots, though the guardian drone's effect dissapears if it is sacrificed for a warrior. However say you had three units of Fire Warriors with two shield drones each. That's 12W 4++ to hide your warrior behind... but for just a bit more points ''you would have a fourth fire warrior squad''. Boys over toys?
*'''[[Tau_Drones#Tactical_Support_Turret|DS8 Tactical Support Turret]]''', which can be deployed as an action started in the command phase and completed at the end of that turn's movement phase, meaning the unit has to begin the turn on the table and remain stationary if they want to use the turret, which can be equipped with either a smart missile system for indirect fire (to offset its static nature) or a proper missile pod for direct fire. It also means the unit can't use a Markerlight that turn. Useless with Mont'Ka as you should be pushing up, but for a static gunline it's a good choice.
Now they come on units of 10, but at least now they are the same Ld as marines: Ld7 w/Ld8 Shas'ui. They are also well armored, with a 4+ that becomes 4+/4++ with shield drones. The two troops choice versions of fire warriors (the third option is Fast Pathfinders) are:

* '''Strike Team:''' Your main gunline infantry, now '''Pulse Rifles''' are ''36"'' RF1 S5 AP-1 D1, making them among the best Troop's rapid fire guns in the game. 18" RF range makes it easy to double shoot whilst still benefitting from cover, where their 3+ may require the enemy to shoot at them with high AP shots that would normally be wasted on T3 models.
**Pulse rifle 18" rapid fire range goes nicely with Mont'Ka's 18" range.
**They can also swap their rifles for Pulse Carbines. Those lack the AP, but allow the squad to advance & shoot if they are using Kauyon. Compared to pulse rifles, pulse carbines shine from 18" to 24" range, where their ''two AP-0 shots outdamage the rifle's single AP-1 shot''. For the squads that aren't using the '''Relentless Fusillade''' strat, that is.

* '''Breacher Team:''' Danger close. They put out nice firepower, as long as you are close enough to count their nose hairs:  '''Pulse blasters''' are 8” Assault 2 S6 AP-2 D1 or 14” Assault 2 S5 AP-1 D1. This second profile is inferior to the pulse rifle's 0-18" two S5 AP-1 shots, so <u>shoot from within 8" or you're doing it wrong</u>, so make sure you have a plan for getting them incredibly close if you're going to field them. Be it as a response team to counterattack wherever enemy forces reach your lines, or Combat Debarked right on top of the enemy they'll attract a ton of firepower, so protect them with drones. They go great with Devilfish, where "great" means "it's the only way to get them close enough quickly". And if the enemy doesn't die, charge them with the transport.
**They do fine in Mont'Ka, where they can advance and still count as stationary when shooting <s>their now AP-3 guns</s>, but even in turn one they still ought to close in to 8" (wasting 10" of the 18" <s>increased-AP range</s>), else you'd be better off with Pulse Rifles. They may be the better Fire Warriors for Kauyon, however, where the 12" exploding hits range is not too different from their optimal 8" range (yet it would waste pulse rifle/carbine range), and a shotgun is an okay gun to fall back with.