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

==Helpful Hints and Fun Strategies==
[[File:Tauassault.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Rule number one. '''Never. FUCKING. ''EVER''.''']]

===The Most Important Rule===
Spoiler: It's not the "have fun" one, but if you don't follow it you can be sure as hell you won't have any. Do you like seeing squad after squad of Fire Warriors get slapped to death by Conscripts? ''No?'' '''Then keep them out of melee combat'''. Your army is WS2, so going against anything above WS3 feels like going against a fucking Bloodthirster. Everybody else will just drown you in bodies, and your I2 wont help at all. And [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Imperial_Guard/Death_Korps_of_Krieg_Assault_Brigade(7E)|those fucking Korpsmen]] will do both at the same time.
*DO keep in mind that melee is much less deadly in 7E. After all, even if they are WS10 no one can hit more than 66% of the time, and most units aren't S5 or have a 3+ save like your Crisis teams. While melee with dedicated CC squads or even buffed regular troops are still out of the question, Crisis-and-better Battlesuits can hold their own in a brawl against those regular troops, especially after you've mauled them in the shooting phase - punching a few wounded scout marines might be better than exposing yourself to their sniper shots, don't you think? And you have lots of trinkets to help in CC - Fire warriors with their carapace armor are [[Fire_Warrior#On_the_Tabletop|just as good as Guardsmen]], and while they hit first, you have Photon grenades, so they're always as good or better. And don't even get me started on FSE. Yes, spending a turn in melee IS wasteful, no doubt about that, but what I'm saying is ''Don't PANIC at the thought of melee'', just avoid it on the grounds you have better things to do- ''Is that a power sword? RUN LIKE HELL''.

<b>[[Markerlight]]s, we should talk about them</b><br> 
These things are force-multipliers, plain and simple. Without them, you will do at best "alright" but with them (properly used) you will be kicking ass left and right. For all the talk about the Tau being awesome at shooting, the truth is that they are merely "good" at it. They put out a lot less [[dakka]] than, say, the [[Orks]] or the [[Imperial Guard]]. However, what shooting the Tau do have is very powerful when it hits, but it only hits half the time on a typical roll. Markerlights are what allow them to hit almost all the time, marker units lighting up the target and letting another unit slam that target with very specific fire-for-effect. This means that markerlight-heavy units are almost always best used when paired with other units, as the markerlight-wielders need to be able to paint the target, and the other unit needs to be in range to hit them when they do. If that supporting unit is very long range and has good line of sight (like broadsides or a hammerhead) then the markerlight unit can push forward and select targets for destruction from beyond your enemy's ability to retaliate against them. In contrast, if the supporting unit is short ranged (by Tau standards, like crisis suits or fire warriors) than they need to stay near the markerlight unit to take advantage of them. Since most armies will only have one or maybe two good solid sources of markerlight support, it is important to know what it will be best directed against (see target prioritization below,) usually starting with enemy vehicles and then moving on to wiping out infantry, though it will vary depending on the foe and their strategy. Markerlights encourage you to focus fire on one target, wipe it out quickly, then move on to the next. Some units will put out more marker tokens than others, and you need to be careful about what you spend them for. Vehicle targets will have them spent boosting to-hit rolls and firing seeker missiles, infantry squads will also have to-hit rolls boosted paired with cover-denial if you can spring for it (the enemy will not be able to hide from the Tau's guns for long). If your enemy is smart, they will realize all of this and make things hell for your markerlight-wielding units as quickly as possible. If ''you'' are smart, you will use this to lure your foe into a Kauyon trap (more on that later.)  

<b>Target Prioritization</b><br>
More important for Tau armies than it is for others. Indeed, in bygone editions the Tau had special equipment and options for circumventing target priority rules. Those rules may have been dropped, but the need to be selective remains. Certain targets need to be neutralized at the earliest possible turn, then the rest of the enemy can be defeated in detail after that. "The Way of the Broken sword", they call it. One hefty priority is when the enemy hides their infantry in [[METAL BOXES|metal boxes]], THE COWARDS, THE FOOLS, YOU SHOULD TAKE AWAY THEIR METAL BAWKSES. The moment enemy infantry reaches your lines, you lose, and they do that faster in vehicles. Luckily for you, Tau have many ways of accomplishing their objectives, because [[Commander_Puretide|the truly wise adapt]]. So you could destroy their vehicles from afar with [[markerlight]]-boosted railgun hits, or a missile massacre on the first turn, or drop Fusion guns/Riptides for devastating hit and run attacks, if you can manage it. The moment enemy infantry is forced to footslog across the tabletop, ''they'' lose, as infantry in the open are a turkey-shoot in the face of the Tau's superior firepower. Let Crisis suits take the fight to enemy infantry, whittling down heavy infantry with plasma and missiles or burning blobs to cinders with flamers and burst canons, while the railgun units finish off the remaining enemy vehicles. If they overwhelm you with enough bodies and vehicles to soak up all your [[dakka]] and still keep coming, then do not be afraid to give ground and fall back, drawing them further in and giving you a little more time to pour on the fire. Remember, the Tau value mobility and holding the line is secondary to the destruction of the enemy. After all, once the enemy is dead, the terrain is yours to claim without contest.  

<b>Mont'ka and Kauyon</b><br>
The Tau Empire codex will describe two central in-lore strategies employed by the Tau, Mont'ka and Kauyon. Mont'ka, "The Death Blow", involves bringing the Tau's full force to bare on a linchpin target which when removed will compromise the enemy's entire strategy. Kauyon, "The Patient Hunter", involves luring the enemy to the Tau, where they can fall into one of the most deadly cross-fires Tau weaponry can produce. ''[[Dawn of War]]'' would have you believe that these two strategies are mutually exclusive, and the codex itself does little to suggest otherwise. However, the truth is that both strategies are two sides of the same coin, and that one strategy can be flipped over and turned into the other in an instant. The battlefield situation is fluid, and so to should be your strategy. Tau are an army ill-suited to getting stuck-in, so any offensive actions will halt just at the edge of the Tau's maximum range, and the Tau forces will fall back from an enemy counter-attack. In this way, the battle lines get pushed and pulled backward and forward across the course of a match. You might start with a Mont'ka strategy, sending in Crisis suits (possibly with deep strikes) to hit the enemy hard on a critical unit, or push a Hammerhead Gunship ahead of the line to clear its line of sight to a target. Both will do great damage, but such units in turn attract a lot of enemy attention, becoming a lure for Kauyon in the process.  Take advantage of the enemy's distraction, and use the rest of your force to hit the enemy in a more vulnerable flank, or just position them to set up a cross fire they cannot escape from in time. Do not treat your units as expendable, but do weigh your risks and do not be afraid to take a risky path if the payoff will lead to victory. Exploit the range of your weapons and your mobility to get the enemy to break ranks in a gambit to reach you, pulling them into the open and cutting them down in equal measure, always ready to adjust your approach as the situation shifts.

===The Farsight Bomb===

You've seen us mention it every other paragraph, it has its own freaking subsection now. Back in 6E Farsight's defining characteristic was the fact he was the only one that could take a seven-strong Bodyguard unit, and his WT allows him to deepstrike them without scatter, so it felt like a "Deathstar to go". 7E means he can grab even moar suits, but it's not exclusive to him anymore, which opens several options for the Bomb, which are discussed here - these tactics can be seen as an addition to the original Farsight Bomb® or as alternatives to it. Note that, if you decide to use someone other than Farsight you NEED to secure No-scatter by any means necessary (beacons, usually), lest your Deathstar gets lost to a mishap, easy to get on such a big squad.

'''The Original Farsight Bomb®'''<br>
Still haven't got the hang of it? It's Farsight no-scattering a Bodyguard unit into play. What sets them apart from other bombs is its reliability (which is a HUGE thing) and Farsight's I5 for Hit&Run tests. Even on Shadowsun bombs, when he's not the warlord, his Initiative is the fastest thing on the codex, just behind Vespids (''but fuck'em''), so he's always a welcomed addition.
*''Now available in regular Crisis team flavor, and up to 28.5% more Crisis per bomb! YUM!''

'''Buffmander Bomb'''<br>
Put all the systems you need on a Commander (''Buffmander''), who will live forever because of the Bodyguards - something a regular Farsight Bomb cannot reliably do unless they bring yet another Commander. Grab all the Gun drones you can (to have ablative wounds and 4+ majority save, for those evil Grav guns) but don't grab any Airbursting projectors. Because of the Buffmander, this unit's shots have Ignore cover, reroll ones to hit, can fire against whatever is a better target, has tons of BS5 TL drones, and has melee protection in the form of a 12" Gets Hot bubble, D6 I10 hits to every charging unit and Hit&Run at I4. As for your ranged weapons, you could use Fusion Blasters with Target locks to hit armour, Plasma rifles (''the better option'') with Advanced Targeting to murder officers, Missile pods with Velocity trackers to provide AA coverage, and Ion Blasters with EWOs intercept those deepstrikers coming to stop you.
*You could run a budget version of the Bomb adding an Iridium suit and Shield generator to the Buffmander, and swapping the Bodyguards for a regular Crisis team. Passing LoS! on a 2+ is good enough, and he has 2+/4++ for any lucky shot. You only begin to save points after the 5th suit, tho.

'''Shadowbomb'''<br>
Mrs. Tsundere is a great addition for any bomb, or can make a bomb of her own too. Her Stealth and Shrouded give everyone a 4+++ in the open, so Shield generators become redundant, and her John Woo pattern Fusion guns get along very well with any other Target locks the unit may have. Don't take her Command-link drone, a Command&Control node is cheaper, better bring two of her 3++ shield drones. Oh, how could I forget her best bonus: 3D6" THRUST MOVE as the warlord, which will be useful all nightmare long unlike Farsight's one-use WT. Forget about Flamers and Counterfire, you just won't be in melee. Hell, you might not even be on his visual anymore, and if you jumped into cover it turns into the veritable 2+++ Bullshit Barrier®.

===Unit Usage===

<b>Burst Cannons Vs. Smart Missiles Vs. Gun Drones</b><br>
Smart Missiles are better than Burst Cannons, period. The real question is now whether to take Gun Drones or Smart Missile Systems. Pinning, detachability and passenger firing status but BS2 vs Homing, Ignores cover and extra range, it all depends on your views on secondary armaments. If you think of them as a source of more dakka take SMS, but if you think of them as defensive guns so that you don't get swarmed then take the drones, their strategies when detached discussed more under the "ABCD" strategy.

'''Wall of Death'''<br>
Piranhas are Fast Vehicles and possess AV 11 in their front armor. Even while this is akin to a death wish against S7, this makes them impervious to most handguns such as bolters and lasguns. 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 it. 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. Oh what's that? Disruption pods give Stealth now? Stick these bad boys on your Piranha, and laugh as your opponent tries to get through a 3+ cover save as you flat-out right into his face. Or for even more hilarity, Seeker missiles. Now that Piranha doesn't even need to see those tanks to kill them.

'''The firing line'''<br>
Take 1 full squad of fire warriors behind a ADL with a Cadre Fireblade and Darkstrider. Then one unit of pathfinders next to it. Then use Aun'va and a minimum squad of Kroots with sniper rifles as expendable bodies and as CQC punching bags if necessary. You'll have at 19"+ 26 S5 shots from the Fire Warriors squad, and a little closer Darkstrider and the drones add six Pinning shots, and the foe will have a -1 T so you wound marines on a 2+! Within 15" it's 44 S5 -1T to foe. Give those Pathfinders some Rail Rifles, if necessary let Darkstrider switch to them and instakill MEQ and TEQ with 4T. If you face a lot of T5, Ion rifles can give you instakill when overcharged. That is if you don't mind the gets hot on your Tau!

'''ABCD: Annoying Bullshit/Cover Drones'''<br>
Crisis and, to a lesser extent, Stealth suits are famous for the Jump-Shoot-Jump tactic: the ability to jump out of cover, fire and jump back in, leading to endless annoyance for your opponent. But this also works in reverse, with the humble Gun Drone and, well, pretty much anything that can be obscured by them; the important thing being <u>the drones must be from a separate unit</u> instead of taken as upgrades by the bubble-wrapped unit. The ones that come "free" with vehicles such as the Devilfish can work, but the Piranhas' are better (the actual Piranhas costing less than its 2 Drones: 14+14+[[Derp|''12'']]), but a proper Drone team will last longer, although those DO grant a VP for their destruction. There are 2 variations of pretty much the same thing - putting some annoying drones in the way; both of them become useless when facing Ignores Cover, Blasts or enemy Jump Units.
*'''Mobile cover:''' ''aka Backwards Jump-Shoot-Jump''. Keep them near the unit you want to protect, both of them fire and then you move the Drones in the assault phase to grant your squishy units free 5+ cover, which turns into a decent 4+ cover save in the open for your vehicles equipped with Disruption Pods, up to a ''2+ Bullshit-Barrier'' for Stealth teams; great if you use this to get Jumping Fusion near enemy AV. Let's face it - you'd rather have those T4 4+ save Drones tank some hits than your valuable dudes with special weapons, even if Stealth teams are 3+/4+++. Incoming melta? Deploy ABCD ASAP, the more abbreviations the better.
*'''Drone wall:''' Properly placed (ie. abuse coherence), the same tactic can shield your dudes from charges with the added benefits of Supporting Fire and the fact that your enemy will probably kill those drones in ''his'' turn...so you can blow him to smithereens now that they have foolishly placed themselves within Rapid Fire range. This can achieve what Disruption pods can't - save you from meltabombs.

[[Image:Kroot_Trolling.jpg‎ |thumb|Just look at that grin on his face. An epic troll.]]
'''Kroot Konga Line'''<br>
Place a big line of Kroot in front of your firing line, stretching all across the board. This keeps enemy units from assaulting you and you can abuse Supporting Fire by having your whole army overwatch a single unit. Add Markerlights and Counter Fire Defense Systems to drink your opponents tears. (This works because only the overwatching unit needs Supporting Fire, not the unit being charged.)

'''British Firing Line'''<br>
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. Exploit the Supporting Fire special rule ruthlessly. Send your Crisis suits out to kill any and all ordnance carrying enemies. Have Broadside suits camp in the back to pound the living shit out of any assaulting units using their Heavy Rail rifles, 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. As powerful as this is against an enemy who has to cross the tabletop, this strategy's main vulnerability is from enemies who can bypass the firing line altogether, either through Deep Strikes or Outflank maneuvers. You might want to hold a Crisis team back as a mobile reserve, jumping up and down the line to counter threats as they come up and lend extra fire power to prevent the line from collapsing.  

'''Out Dakka Anything'''<br>
The new codex reduces the costs of damn near EVERYTHING. This allows you to take more bodies than [[Khornate Knights|all the dead Sisters that the Grey Knights killed]]. In a 2,000 point battle, ten 12 man squads of Firewarriors, 6 FULL squads of suits with Plasma Dakka, the blueberry space Pope swinging his scepter around saying "Shoot them again!", and then whatever amount of dakka you want to take in whatever amounts allows you to fill something with enough pulse/plasma dakka to ensure it's dead. Be sure to bring your tearcups when facing large amounts of infantry, and even flyers wont be able to stand up to 1,200,000 pulse rifle shots a turn - '''''Note:''' That's still [[Dakka|not enough dakka]].''.

'''The Bruiser Squad'''<br>
Shadowsun with three XV9's, kitted out with whatever gun you want.  Got an annoying MC that's SOMEHOW survived a hammerhead/R'Varna combo?  An annoying distraction unit?  Or maybe a little god squad tucked in the corner.  This little unit is like your meched out Don Corleone and his crew.

'''The Gruesome Twosome'''<br>
O'Ra'lai, Shadowsun and her Command-link drone.  Float Ms. Tsundere behind Mr Big Bad Angry Tau Grandpa and use her drone to nominate him.  If you thought re-rolling the Riptide's "Gets Hot!" was good, wait until you get a load of giving that gift to O'Ra'lai weapons.  Yeah.

'''NEW Fish of Fury'''<br>
Devilfish transports make excellent cover for Jetpack jumping Crisis Suits.  Drive up the board with your suits immediately behind, jump out with your jetpacks, shoot the crap out of stuff, jump back behind the Devilfish with your Thrust move, stay hidden!  Watch your opponent foam at the mouth as he can't see your suits behind your vehicle.  Make sure you fit a disruption pod to the Devilfish... That'll probably ensure that they stick around for a while under heavy fire.  Also, don't forget to fire the weapons that are on your 'fish.

'''Tommy Gun Firewarriors'''<br>
Make a single Firewarrior squad vomit more shots than your opponent's army. Works best if you have Farsight allies. Take Cadre Fireblades with two Gun Drones for all of your HQ slots and attach them to one unit of Firewarriors (make sure to take a Shas'ui with a Gun Drone as well) then place them in a fortification or heavy cover. Each Fireblade will add an extra shot to all of your Pulse Rifles and Carbines when they don't move, turning your S5 single shot gun at 30", into 4 shots with only 3 Fireblades. At 15" that single squad will be vomiting 115 S5 AP5 shots a turn, and if you add 1 more Fireblade with drones it spikes up to 156 shots. Throw some backfield artillery and objectives to draw them in and they won't know what hit them when you open your 5th dice box. Just don't expect this to work on round two.

'''Those Fucking Stealth Suits and Tetras/Pathfinder Devilfish'''<br>
This tactic only really works well with the Farsight Enclaves list, since Crisis suits no longer compete with Stealth Suits for the elite slot. Fill out a full team of six stealth suits in the following way: 5x Burst cannons with Counterfire, 1x Shas'vre (trust me, the LD boost helps) with a fusion blaster, marker light, target lock and VRT, two gun drones (total 270 points).  Take a supporting team of Tetras or a Pathfinder squad with the recon drone and Devilfish.  All of your troop crisis suits and elite hazard suits should be in reserve for deep strike. Combining the Scout move of the Pathfinders/tetra and the Infiltrate of the stealth suits creates several homing beacons that cannot be easily destroyed, so when the enemy finally thinks that they are about to crush your paltry army, in come the reinforcements perfectly placed to dump liquid troll on your enemies army.  

Why that particular set up for the Stealth suits, you ask?

Consider this: A full stealth team totes the same firepower as a full squad of fire warriors double-tapping. That is 24 delicious shots of st5 ap5 hell that even TEQ's suffer from due to sheer volume of fire. Adding counterfire to that mix means that being assaulted becomes a troll heaven for you (this will wipe out entire squads expecting half the number of incoming hits).  Now, to get some good tank busting power, we add a fusion blaster, a marker light and a target lock. Remember that these bastards are both relentless and have a multi-tracker, so the Shas'vre can shoot BOTH the marker light AND the fusion blaster...and all this cheese is BEFORE you add a subsystem. Give him VRT for hit-and-run that effects the whole squad.  The gun drones? They replace the lost 4 shots by upgrading your Shas'vre, provide valuable ablative wounds... AND PROVIDE INITIATIVE 4 FOR HIT AND RUN! Combine all of this with Stealth, Shrouded, Deep Strike, Infiltrator, 3+ save majority and the ever important homing beacon.  It is a  huge amount of EXTREMELY effective special rules crammed into a very viable choice.

This DOES help if your commander rolled "counter-crisis" for his warlord trait too.

'''Riptide Limbo Contest''' <br>: Build your Riptides low and parallel to the ground (Try to make it look like they're at least flying backward while shooting weapons). Let your opponent giggle at the silly pose, then watch his laughter turn to tears when he realizes they can actually hide behind a devilfish this way.

[[Category:Warhammer 40000 Tactics(7E)]]
[[Category: Tau]]

{{Warhammer_40k_Tactics}}