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

===Dataslate Formations===
*'''Ethereal Honour Guard (Start Collecting Tau pack):''' An Ethereal on a hoverdrone, a Crisis Team and a Strike Team, all in one box. This gives the other guys a bit of a free move if they're near the Ethereal - The unit can pick a single model in the unit to act as a Lynchpin and then have everyone regroup around him so that they're all 3" away from him (Unless it's a turret. The turret stays where it is). It's a pretty devious way to get some more range from the other units, or to pull one unit out of a melee.

*'''Infiltration Cadre Burning Dawn (Infiltration Cadre Burning Dawn Boxed Set):''' Aun'Do, Pathfinder Team Aurora, Stealth Team Shadowtide and the Tireless Hunter (All a box set) team up.  Aun'Do gets one turn to pull two elements, everyone gets Shrouded and Scout (or Infiltrate if they have Scout before).  All in all, not too bad a setup, but it is fragile.

*'''Tidewall Counterstrike Cadre (Web-Exclusive Bundle):''' In a blatant move to sell even more Tidewalls comes an exclusive formation along the lines of the Cohort Mechanicus and the Court of House Terryn. It's composed of a Strike Team, Pathfinders, and two Breacher Teams in a Tidewall filled with two Shieldlines, two Gunrigs and a Droneport to center on.  The Breachers , when firing from the Shieldlines, get to boost the ranges on their weapons' profiles, so now you have a not-quite plasma gun from 10" away, which is much safer.  The Strike Team re-rolls hits while on the Gunrigs or Droneport and the Pathfinders act as, well, Pathfinders, as the Tidewall can move up to 9" so long as it gets closer to them. 

*'''Tau Firebase Support Cadre (Dataslate):''' The Tau Firebase Support Cadre is a Formation consisting of one Riptide and two FULL units of Broadsides. Each member of the formation has the Tank Hunters and Preferred Enemy (Space Marines) special rules. In return, your Space Marine enemies will get Hatred (Tau Firebase Support Cadre). This is fair enough really, and not much of a downside... If you're stupid enough to let Space Marines get into CC with your units, then you probably deserve to lose. ''Even with the 7E version around this formation is still very valid - Marines are the most common army and PE is better than Monster Hunters against them, who have none. Also, you don't need to fire at the same unit like the 7E formation, so it's valid against other armies as well''. Keep in mind how versatile this formation is. You want all High-Yield Missile Pods and Interceptor on your Broadsides, and an Ion Cannon and Early Warning System on your Riptide? Good idea. You don't want to include Shas'vre in each Broadside team? No problem.  You want lashings of Drones with every model? Sounds good! At the end of the day, this separate detachment will end up costing however much you decide to spend, but the bare minimum is 570 pts so it's not cheap.  But it's a  hell of a lot of potential firepower that your opponent has to face down the barrel of, with units you might have already planned on bringing.  Flyer heavy opponents probably shit their pants just thinking about this formation.

*'''Kroot Hunting Pack (Apocalypse):''' 5 Kroot squads, kitted out however you like. This is a fluff formation, plain and simple.  They only get Furious Charge and the ability to Outflank on any side they wish. Better than your average Kroot, they're beleaguered by the fact they're still just Kroot.

*'''Optimized Stealth Group (Apocalypse):''' 3+ Stealth Teams are needed. This formation has one nice rule and one meh rule.  The nice thing is that their shots ignore cover.  The meh thing is that if they infiltrate, they need to halve the distance they can set up from the enemy. Being Tau, the prospect of being closer to the enemy shouldn't be a good idea...but it does leave them in Melta range, even when Infiltration in line of sight. With the arrival of Ghostkeels this formation has lost most of its allure.

*'''Riptide Wing (Mont'ka):''' 3-9 Riptides.  THAT GUY TEAM COMING UP!! Yeah, this is just being unfair. Not only can any Riptide within 6" of another re-roll failed Nova Reactor rolls, but they also get +1 BS when firing at something another Riptide already shot at, and once per battle they can ''shoot twice with each weapon in a turn they didn't move'', which can be also combined with Ripple Fire to allow to each Riptide to ''fire the same weapon four times''.  Really, who'd want to play this and claim themselves fair?

*'''Ghostkeel Wing (Mont'ka):''' 3-9 Ghostkeels. They get +1 BS when firing at something another Ghostkeel already shot at, their drones have effect to every Tau within 12" from at least two of the formation's units and if they charge an enemy unit within 6" from another Ghostkeel, that unit can't Overwatch.

*'''Ethereal Council (Mont'ka):''' 3-7 Ethereals (Aun'Va and Aun'Shi can be part of the formation). As long as two of them are still alive, they're considered a single unit, the range for Failure isn't an Option is doubled, and they give all four the elemental buffs in the same turn.